Rural India Still Has Appalling Healthcare Infrastructure: Study


It is already more than two decades that many people from various socio economic strata have increased their use of private service providers over public options for health care facilities. This is due to the time factor and the diagnostic equipment that are frequently not available in public facilities.

In the year 2012, it was found that 61 percent of rural patients and 69 percent of urban patients had chosen private in-patient services which is 40 percent more than that reported in 1986-87 government survey.

It is also the better quality of treatment and the availability of doctors in private health care centres that entice the people to opt for it as no one wants to compromise when it comes to health related matters.

The study conducted by IMS Institute asserted that the cost of treatment at private healthcare facilities is between two and nine times higher than at public healthcare facilities. As such, on an average, poor patients suffering from chronic illness spent 44 percent out of their monthly household expenditure per treatment as compared to 23 percent of those who used a public facility.

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