Essay – The Focus of Healthcare is Increasingly Getting Skewed Towards the ‘Haves’ of our Society
The Focus of Healthcare is Increasingly Getting Skewed Towards the ‘Haves’ of our Society Essay: The Indian Constitution acknowledges healthcare as the most indispensable need of its citizens and encodes it under the fundamental right of Right to Life under Article 21. Article 21 instructs the executive branch of the government to take effective measures to establish health care centres that are easily accessible by individuals belonging to all strata of society. Indian healthcare has been privatized since the Parliament had endorsed the National Health Policy in 1983 and updated it in 2002 and in 2017.
Discussion
Since the privatization of healthcare in 2005,, most of the medical centres such as clinics and hospitals have been established with the private sector. The private sector consists of 58% of the hospitals in the country with about 30% of its beds in hospitals and 80% of its doctors. The statistics of National Family Health Survey-3, that the principal source of healthcare of families in cities and metropolitan centres account for 70% and rural areas account for 63%. While privatization of healthcare has benefited the nation in more ways than one such as the emergence of biotricity toolkit and virtusense technology, however, it has increased the gap between affluent sections of the society who can avail quality privatized healthcare for a huge amount of money and the poor who do not have access to it.
The Healthcare sector is important for the development of the human resource of the country which makes state supervision imperative for the nation’s growth. The assessment of the characteristics of the healthcare sector is based on three major tenets such as; a) availability, affordability and standard. Considering all three parameters, the Indian healthcare sector has an ambiguous record. Health indicators such as infant mortality rate and life expectancy state the vast differences between rural and urban healthcare facilities. Infant mortality accounts for 12.8% in rural areas whereas it accounted for 8.2% in urban areas. The difference in rural and urban life expectancy at birth accounts for 4.7 years at birth and around 1.6 years at seventy years. The reasons for vast difference can be attributed to the lack of appropriate healthcare facilities. Private healthcare facilities are expensive as compared to public facilities that hinder people hailing from rural areas from accessing private clinics and hospitals. A survey done by the Tendulkar Methodology of measuring poverty suggests that residents of rural India earn enough only to spend Rs.33 a day. It is implausible for them to afford private healthcare facilities. Financial restriction is the principal hindrance to utilising healthcare facilities for rural residents.
Conclusion
In conclusion, healthcare facilities have improved human conditions in India after the privatization of the healthcare sector in India. The life expectancy rate has increased with a sharp reduction in the rate of infant death thus improving human resource development. However, privatization has created a vast gap between urban and rural, rich and poor in accessing quality healthcare facilities. India needs to invest more of its GDP than a mere 1.5% in its health sector in order to ensure the availability of healthcare to each region and strata of society.
FAQs related to The Focus of Healthcare is Increasingly Getting Skewed Towards the ‘Haves’ of our Society
Q1. Is healthcare a fundamental right in India?
Ans: The Indian Constitution acknowledges healthcare as the most indispensable need of its citizens and encodes it under the fundamental right of Right to Life under Article 21.
Q2. What are India’s infant mortality rate and life expectancy rate ?
Ans: Infant mortality accounts for 12.8% in rural areas whereas it accounted for 8.2% in urban areas. The difference in rural and urban life expectancy at birth accounts for 4.7 years at birth and around 1.6 years at seventy years.
Also See: More Essay Writing