Healthcare In Post Independence India

This book analyses the development of private healthcare in post-Independence Kolkata, India, and the rapid expansion of private nursing homes and hospitals from a historical and sociological perspective. It offers an examination of the changing pattern of the entire health care sector, which over recent decades has transformed itself to a profit-making commodity. The book explores the complexities of the health care services in Kolkata with special emphasis on the emergence, growth, role and the changing pattern of private health care organisations and the decline or degeneration of the services of public hospitals. Post-1947 India experienced the implementation of new developments in public health services, amongst others vertical programmes, primary health centers, family planning welfare programmes and community health volunteers. Examining the challenges in establishing a comprehensive health service system and the process of market forces in health care, the author investigates its linkages with policies of the welfare state. This book will be of interest to academics in the field of medical sociology, history of medicine and health and development studies and South Asian Studies.

"This book analyses the development of private healthcare in post-Independence Kolkata, India, and the rapid expansion of private nursing homes and hospitals from a historical and sociological perspective. It offers an examination of the changing pattern of the entire health care sector, which over recent decades has transformed itself to a profit-making commodity. The book explores the complexities of the health care services in Kolkata with special emphasis on the emergence, growth, role and the changing pattern of private health care organisations and the decline or degeneration of the services of public hospitals. Post-1947 India experienced the implementation of new developments in public health services, amongst others vertical programmes, primary health centers, family planning welfare programmes and community health volunteers. Examining the challenges in establishing a comprehensive health service system and the process of market forces in health care, the author investigates its linkages with policies of the welfare state. This book will be of interest to academics in the field of medical sociology, history of medicine and health and development studies and South Asian Studies"--

This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. If history matters for understanding key development outcomes then surely historians should be active contributors to the debates informing these understandings. This volume integrates, for the first time, contributions from ten leading historians and seven policy advisors around the central development issues of social protection, public health, public education and natural resource management. How did certain ideas, and not others, gain traction in shaping particular policy responses? How did the content and effectiveness of these responses vary across different countries, and indeed within them? Achieving this is not merely a matter of seeking to 'know more' about specific times, places and issues, but recognising the distinctive ways in which historians rigorously assemble, analyse and interpret diverse forms of evidence. This book will appeal to students and scholars in development studies, history, international relations, politics and geography as well as policy makers and those working for or studying NGOs.

India has a comprehensive Healthcare system comprising government and private service providers. Indian healthcare sector comprise of both allopathy & Alternative systems of medicine i.e. AYUSH. Indian Healthcare industry is worth Rs. 730 billion, and occupies 4 per cent of country’s GDP. In India, the Healthcare system is organised into primary, secondary and tertiary levels of delivery system. Healthcare ServicesDuring 2010-11, sales of the industry had grown by 25.4 per cent. During 2011-12 and 2012-13, transactions are expected to grow by a healthy 18.6 per cent and 20.5 per cent respectively. The National Health Policy (NHP)in light of the Directive Principles of the constitution of India recommends "universal, comprehensive primary health care services which are relevant to the actual needs and priorities of the community at a cost which people can afford". Globally, health expenditure as a proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ballooned in the second half of the 20th century, experiencing an almost threefold increase from 3 per cent in the 1950s to 8.5 per cent by 2014. According to the OECD, key drivers of greater health spending include: Rising incomes; Demographic trends; Ageing Population; Epidemiological trends; and Development and diffusion of new technologies and drugs. The four modes of cross-border delivery of services under GATS can be summarized as follows: Services supplied from one country to another; Consumers or firms making use of a service in another country; A foreign company setting up subsidiaries or branches to provide services in another country; and Individuals travelling from their own country to supply services in another country. Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in the hospitals and diagnostic center segment has reached a new high in India. India is already charged in this route as evident from the 100% allowance of FDI in the hospital segment under automatic route, since January 2000. There is also an increasing interest among private equity funds, domestic and international financial institutions, venture capitalists, and banks to examine investment opportunities across an extensive range of segments. A developing country like India can adopt a mechanism for healthcare delivery for medical tourists to strengthen its economy by Creating an efficient and economic human resource pool (skilled medical and paramedical professionals), offer competitive costs and high quality of care to medical tourists.

This book brings concepts, practices of Ayurveda and its interface with modern health care set-up in Delhi, India. It presents a new conceptual framework in studying public health in India, offers policy recommendations and outlines the challenges of mainstreaming of alternative medical systems in India. Drawing on a wealth of primary data that looks at the social profile of patients, gender, disease profile of patients, prescriptions, average cost per prescription and kinds of medicines prescribed, the monograph explores patterns of health behaviour through the perceptions of doctors and patients, administrators and their negotiations with the bureaucratic health structure. It analyses the power and structures between practitioners of modern medicine and Ayurvedic doctors and the issues of cross referral and formal and informal levels of interaction/network between the two medical systems. Engaging with current debates around public health in India, the volume will be of interest to scholars and researchers of public health and sociology of health and medicine, public policy and public administration and South Asian studies.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of universal health coverage in India. It starts by setting the historical context and politics of the debates around universal health coverage (UHC) in India and proceeds to analyze the present crisis of public health in the country. The book examines the present policies on the pharmaceutical industry, missing links in universalizing health, and the importance of social determinants of health. It is divided into five sections, and some of the topics covered include the difference between comprehensive primary health care and universal health care, public health and medical care, health service, and health system. The chapters are contributed by scholars and practitioners based on historical, interdisciplinary, empirical, and policy research. The book is insightful to academics, public health administrators, policymakers, practitioners, and students interested in health care and organization, looking to transform theory into policy and practice.