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Invest More in Public Healthcare Facilities

Vol. 55, Issue No. 37, 12 Sep, 2020
V R Muraleedharan, Girija Vaidyanathan, Sundararaman T, Umakant Dash, Alok Ranjan, Rajesh M

Data from National Sample Surveys (71st round, 2014 and 75th round, 2017–18) show that there is a significant increase in the utilisation of public facilities for both outpatient and inpatient services, across empowered action group states and non-EAG states. As a result, there is a dramatic fall in the overall financial burden on patients who would have otherwise used services of private healthcare providers. In light of this evidence, this paper argues that it is prudent to invest more directly to strengthen public healthcare delivery system in India.

Higher Disease Burden in India’s Elderly

Vol. 55, Issue No. 35, 29 Aug, 2020
Alok Ranjan, Muraleedharan V R

The disease burden among the elderly population is significantly higher compared to the younger population, according to the data from the 75th round National Sample Survey, 2017–18, which increases their vulnerability during the COVID-19 pandemic. The footprint of elderly population in public facilities for inpatient and outpatient care has increased over the years. Financially, the elderly face far less burden in public facilities than in private facilities.

Caste Prejudice and Infection

Vol. 55, Issue No. 16, 18 Apr, 2020
Payal Hathi, Nikhil Srivastav

In light of India’s continuing efforts to reduce maternal mortality, why government hospitals continue to be dangerously unhygienic, posing serious infection risks to patients, is explored.

Dementia and the Challenges of Caregiving: A Personal Account

Vol. 55, Issue No. 14, 04 Apr, 2020
Dementia, an incurable and neurodegenerative brain disease, affects millions of elderly in India, and remains a hidden epidemic. However, little is being done by the government to enable individuals affected by the disease to live with dignity and respect in the society.

Decoding the Million Death Study

Vol. 54, Issue No. 50, 21 Dec, 2019
Erik Aarden

The lack of reliable, cause-specific mortality statistics is considered a major obstacle to the improvement of public health in many low- and middle-income countries. Researchers and government officials in India have set up the Million Death Study to address this situation. First, how the study produces quantitative estimates of the burden of mortality in India is explored by collecting symptomatic data, using that data for diagnostic purposes, and aggregating those diagnoses into an overview of mortality in India. Second, the limitations of the perspective on public health based on discrete and specific diseases that result from this approach are addressed. Numbers alone cannot solve the public health issues India faces, rather cognitive justice towards a broader range of perspectives on major public health problems is required to develop effective political interventions.

ASHAs’ Health Services

Vol. 54, Issue No. 49, 14 Dec, 2019
Rochana Kammowanee

The intrinsic commitment of the accredited social health activists towards the well-being of the community is unduly exploited by the state in the name of “volunteerism.” It is high time a wholesome definition of work is adopted to understand the inconspicuous contributions made by these front-line healthcare workers, who form a key link in the public health system in India.

AAP’s Health Policy Reforms in Delhi

Vol. 53, Issue No. 49, 15 Dec, 2018
Ananya Basu, Susana Barria

Against the backdrop of a rapidly expanding privatised healthcare system, the Aam Aadmi Party government’s health policy reforms in Delhi are scrutinised.

Quality Issues in the Health Management Information System

Vol. 53, Issue No. 45, 17 Nov, 2018
Rajeev Kamal Kumar

The status of the Health Management Information System in Bihar is presented and the reasons affecting the quality of data at different levels, from the health sub-centre to the state level, are examined. The quality of HMIS data is poor because of inadequate primary records, data duplication, and other process errors.

Misplaced Reverence for Super-Specialists Has Led to Lopsided Public Health Priorities in India

Vol. 53, Issue No. 44, 03 Nov, 2018
The undue preference for specialists over general practitioners is an important dimension of the decline of the public healthcare system in India.

National Health Policy, 2017

Vol. 53, Issue No. 28, 14 Jul, 2018
Vikas Bajpai

The National Health Policy, 2017 reflects the perfunctory attitude towards public health, so deeply entrenched among the mandarins of the health ministry. The policy paves the way for the contraction of public healthcare systems, thereby reducing the government’s involvement in the delivery of health services, and facilitates the dominance of the private sector in curative care. However, in the absence of a robust public healthcare system, the goal of achieving “healthcare for all” becomes even more onerous.

 

Rising Caesarean Births

Vol. 53, Issue No. 26-27, 30 Jun, 2018
Prashant Kumar Singh, Rajesh Kumar Rai, Shalini Singh, Lucky Singh

India’s rising rate of caesarean births is a cause for concern and signals the need for strategies to deal with it. Adverse outcomes of caesarean births include high risk of maternal and neonatal death, various maternal morbidities including infections, need for blood transfusion, neonatal morbidities related to iatrogenic prematurity, and potential complications in subsequent pregnancies.

NEET Could Undo Tamil Nadu's Achievements in Public Health

Vol. 52, Issue No. 38, 23 Sep, 2017
Tamil Nadu has performed extremely well in most health indicators because creative technical intervention in the state has been coupled with social mobilisation. The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test ( NEET) has the potential to reverse all past achievements—the innovative reservation policies and the incentive structure which ensured a seamless flow of health personnel in rural areas.

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