Healthcare status in India
No more long waiting lines, delay in diagnosis, and inadequate Infrastructure.
In India, unlike other countries, the urban vs. rural divide is huge. Because the spending power is more by people in cities and towns, all healthcare services are diverted only to this sector leaving the rural areas lacking in medical facilities. Over 60% of hospitals, 70% of dispensaries and 80% of well trained and qualified doctors operate only in the urban areas (1).
The Indian healthcare scenario presents a spectrum of contrasting landscapes. At one end of the spectrum are the glitzy steel and glass structures delivering high tech medicare to the well-heeled, mostly urban Indian. At the other end are the ramshackle outposts in the remote reaches of the “other India” trying desperately to live up to their identity as health subcenters, waiting to be transformed to shrines of health and wellness, a story which we will wait to see unfold. With the rapid pace of change currently being witnessed, this spectrum is likely to widen further, presenting even more complexity in the future.
What are the challenges in delivering healthcare to the “everyone” which must include the socially disadvantaged, the economically challenged, and the systemically marginalized? What keeps us from reaching the “everywhere,” which must include the remote areas in our Himalayan region for instance, where until recently, essentials were airlifted by air force helicopters?
Awareness or the lack of it: How aware is the Indian population about important issues regarding their own health? Why is the level of health awareness low in the Indian population? The answers may lie in low educational status, poor functional literacy, low accent on education within the healthcare system, and low priority for health in the population, among others.
The message is clear – we must strive to raise awareness in those whom we work with and must encourage the younger generation to believe in the power of education for behavior change.
Access or the lack of it: Access (to healthcare) is defined by the Oxford dictionary as “The right or opportunity to use or benefit from (healthcare)” Again, when we look beyond the somewhat well-connected urban populations to the urban underprivileged, and to their rural counterparts, the question “What is the level of access of our population to healthcare of good quality?” is an extremely relevant one.
Absence or the human-power crisis in healthcare: Any discussion on healthcare delivery should include arguably the most central of the characters involved – the human workforce. Do we have adequate numbers of personnel, are they appropriately trained, are they equitably deployed and is their morale in delivering the service reasonably high?
While the private sector accounts for most of the health expenditures in the country, the state-run health sector still is the only option for much of the rural and peri-urban areas of the country. The lack of a qualified person at the point of delivery when a person has traveled a fair distance to reach is a big discouragement to the health-seeking behavior of the population.
Healthcare sector (2) is seeing a sharp growth in many sectors, one of which is radiology. With emerging trends and technology, it is interesting to see the tremendous scope that this sector has to offer. The world of imaging and technology is constantly evolving and thus opening up to a vast new world of innovations.
Radiology gains relevance in the context of diagnosis, the first step towards treatment and general healthcare. With a perceptible shift surfacing in the world, from prescriptive to preventive healthcare, access to quality healthcare is gathering greater importance than ever.
Tapping to this vast scope of advanced-diagnostics-at-affordable-prices, radiology industry is witnessing an overhaul with respect to launching cost-effective imaging equipments in the secondary and tertiary healthcare segments.
Indian radiology market is multi-segmented. From catering to the demands of private imaging centres, large hospitals and academic centers to small diagnostic clinics and government health centers, the Indian radiology segment does not have a clear divide between the high end and low end markets. There could be a clear upsurge in bulk purchases of radiology equipments in the growth sector comprising of these low-end markets. Also, another interesting trend increasingly seen among the buyers has been the demand for adequate and upgradable radiology technology rather than the erstwhile approach of procuring everything that is latest in the market.
1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6166510/
2. https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/health-files/the-growing-radiology-market-in-india/2172
Low penetration of Imaging Equipment in India needs lot of support to increase the affordability
Overall challenges to Healthcare in India – RURAL PERSPECTIVE (Rural India Is Struggling With a ‘Missing Doctors Syndrome’ – The Wire Science)
The year 2021 is coming to an end, and the whole world, including India, has witnessed the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak and is still struggling to cope with the challenges of COVID-19. The last two years have shown the major healthcare crises and could have been taken as an indicator that India’s healthcare system and policy need to be transformed.
There is no doubt that India has made some remarkable progress in health indicators. However, India’s health sector still faces critical challenges such as low government expenditure, inadequate infrastructure, unavailability of healthcare providers or vacant positions, supply-side problems of medicines, equipment, and quality of healthcare services. The pandemic has highlighted existing gaps in healthcare services, especially the accessibility of healthcare services among rural poor.
The recently released Rural Health Statistics (RHS) 2019-2020 paints a bleak picture of India’s rural healthcare sector. These statistics point towards a major healthcare crisis in India, such as lack of infrastructure, huge vacancies and shortages of doctors, specialists, and other staff.