India's Healthcare Facilities Still Below Global Standards: Report

BANGALORE: As famously quoted, ‘Health is Wealth,’ there is nothing more important in this world than our health. Once health breaks down, that is the end of everything.

Coming to Indian heath scenario, it is still questionable whether every citizen enjoys the best healthcare infrastructure. Despite development in recent times, health infrastructure in the country remains below global standards with only 6.28 lakh hospital beds and 9.18 lakh allopathic doctors for more than 1.25 billion people in the country, according to the National Health Profile, 2013, recently released by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.

The profile also highlights the wide difference in health facilities available to people as infant mortality rate, a key human development index, in Kerala was only 66 per 1 lakh live births while it was 328 in Assam in 2010-12.

Healthcare is one such sector in India that still faces lot of challenges in providing equivalent services to the rural and urban Indians, revealed a study entitled-“Understanding Healthcare Access in India: What is the Current State?,” carried out by IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics.

The Health Minister also highlighted the disparity in health facilities accessible to people in different states. He pointed out how the infant mortality rate in Kerala was only 66 per 1 lakh births while in Assam it stood at 328 between 2010-12.

Also Read: Rural India Still Has Appalling Healthcare Infrastructure: Study