Healthcare in India

[19] The public health care system was originally developed in order to provide a means to healthcare access regardless of socioeconomic status or caste.

[20] Interaction between the state and national governments does occur for healthcare issues that require larger scale resources or present a concern to the country as a whole.

[19] The national budget, scholars argue, must allocate money to the public healthcare system to ensure the poor are not left with the stress of meeting private sector payments.

[31] Private healthcare providers in India typically offer high quality treatment at unreasonable costs as there is no regulatory authority or statutory neutral body to check for medical malpractices.

[32] According to Huffington Post, doctors spoke about the problems with "corporate hospitals" and senior surgeons being told to sell surgeries to their patients even if they weren't needed.

[33] The majority of India's private, for-profit hospitals charge exorbitant costs for medical services and supplies, which has put a strain on the country's public finances.

[37] These payments hinder a lot of patients from being able to receive healthcare services, leaving a significant economic impact on the poor and an approximate 50-60 million people forced into poverty annually as a result of drastic medical expenses.

[29] Access and entry into hospitals depends on gender, socioeconomic status, education, wealth, and location of residence (urban versus rural).

The authority, to be set up by an Act of Parliament will work on the integration of multiple health IT systems in a way that ensures security, confidentiality and privacy of patient data.

[18] Doctors tend not to work in rural areas due to insufficient housing, healthcare, education for children, drinking water, electricity, roads and transportation.

[46] Vaccine illiteracy remains a significant obstacle in the path towards greater immunization coverage, often due to misinformation, unreliable healthcare, a lack of awareness among parents, and other social factors.

A 2007 study by Vilas Kovai et al., published in the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology analyzed barriers that prevent people from seeking eye care in rural Andhra Pradesh, India.

[53] In terms of other healthcare providers, the study found that of the qualified paramedical staff present in Madhya Pradesh, 71% performed work in the rural areas of the region.

[54] A 2016 study by Wameq Raza et al., published in BMC Health Services Research, specifically surveyed healthcare-seeking behaviors among people in rural Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, India.

[55] A 2002 study with data taken from June 1998 to May 1999 was conducted by Aparna Pandey et al., published in the Journal of Health, Population, and Nutrition, analyzed care-seeking behaviors by families for girls versus boys, given similar sociodemographic characteristics in West Bengal, India.

This aimed to cover the bottom 50% (500 million people) of the country's population working in the unorganized sector (enterprises having less than 10 employees) and offers them free treatment at both public and private hospitals.

[64] The goal of the NRHM is to provide effective healthcare to rural people with a focus on 18 states with poor public health indicators and/or weak infrastructure.

[68] The program led to an increase in the number of institutional births, yet labor shortages meant patients received poorer care, trading one challenge for another.

This initiative is part of the government's view to ensure that its citizens – particularly poor and weaker groups, have access to healthcare and good quality hospital services without facing financial difficulty.

[72] While a program just recently passed by the government in 2018, PM-JAY offers an opportunity to reform the Indian health system to equitably work for the many relying on it.

[74] The policy additionally advises for old age pensions, development of health insurance to cater to the needs of individuals within varying income brackets, shelter and welfare measures for elderly who are poor and chronically sick, nongovernmental organization support to make up for the care the state cannot provide alone.

[80] In the most successful PPP ventures, the World Health Organization found that the most prominent factor, aside from financial support, was ownership of the project by state and local governments.

[89] Specifically, in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India, these informal healthcare providers generally practice in the form of services in the homes of patients and prescribing allopathic drugs.

[89] A 2014 study by Meenakshi Gautham et al., published in the journal Health Policy and Planning, found that in Guntur, about 71% of patients received injections from informal healthcare providers as a part of illness management strategies.

[90][91] A 2015 study conducted by Nandakumar Mekoth and Vidya Dalvi, published in Hospital Topics examined different aspects that contribute to a patient's perception of quality of healthcare in Karnataka, India, and how these factors influenced adherence to treatment.

[92][93][94] In a particular district of Uttarakhand, India known as Tehri, the educational background of informal healthcare providers indicated that 94% had completed 11 or more years of schooling, while 43% had graduated from college.

[91] In particular, a 2011 study by Padma Bhate-Deosthali et al., published in Reproductive Health Matters, examined the quality of healthcare particularly in the area of maternal services through different regions in Maharashtra, India.

[95] In addition, the 2007 study by Ayesha De Costa and Vinod Diwan analyzed the distribution of healthcare providers and systems in Madhya Pradesh, India.

[96] A 2015 study by Manoj Mohanan et al., published in JAMA Pediatrics, investigate the knowledge base of a sample of practitioners (80% without formal medical degrees) in Bihar, India, specifically in the context of childhood diarrhea and pneumonia treatment.

[96] The findings indicated that in general, a significant number of practitioners missed asking key diagnostic questions regarding symptoms associated with diarrhea and pneumonia, leading to misjudgments and lack of complete information when prescribing treatments.