Indian Health System – State of the nation is as good as its health care
India is a vast country (2.4% of the world’s surface area) with 1.4 billion populations accounting for 17.5% of world population. In 2020, 65% of citizens live in rural India. Indian health care system is vast, but there remain many differences in quality between rural and urban areas as well as between public and private health care (1). The public sector provides 18% of the total outpatient care, 44% of the inpatient care. The private health care account for 58% of the hospitals in the country and are clustered in urban India. Seventy four per cent of the graduate doctors live in urban areas, serving 35% of the national population (2). This makes many Indian turn towards the private healthcare, although this is an option not easily accessible to the poor. Thought health insurance is available, it is often provided by the employers, but most Indian lack health insurance. Few citizens are covered by the Government health schemes. This makes a large portion of people to spend from their pocket on medical treatment. Many Indian hospitals offer world class quality health care at a fraction of the price of hospital in developed countries.