Hardly five years ago, when multi-discipline hospitals started mushrooming in cities across the country, thanks to liberal support from the governments under the policy of privatisation and liberalisation, rising India celebrated their arrival. Many believed their arrival was a landmark in the history of health care in India. There was, further, the aspect of medical tourism.
Good health is essential to human welfare and to sustained economic and social development. WHO's Member States have set themselves the target of developing their health financing systems to ensure that all people can use health services, while being protected against financial hardship associated with paying for them.
Mobile wireless technologies have the potential to aid speedy disease detection, treatment, and monitoring in remote communities. When combined with the power of computers and special software, they can work in real time and enable interventions by health authorities to prevent communicable diseases from turning into epidemics.
The first thing that greets the eye at Amader Haspatal, a rural hospital in a remote part of West Bengal's tribal dominated Bankura district, is the sheer burst of colour all around.
A quiet movement in health care has been unfolding in the rural interiors of West Bengal, improving the lives of thousands of people in villages where no doctor has ever been before. It is an effort defined by vision and commitment and is far removed from the CPI(M)-led Left Front, which has spent 30 years in power in the state.
The policy of levying charges on people seeking healthcare, which requires people to pay before receiving care, has been a contentious issue among health policy-makers and people working in the health sector. The impact of user charges on the health of a nation merits serious consideration.
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Cabinet on Monday gave its nod for introduction of Public Health Standards for Primary Urban Health Centres (PUHC) in the Capital. As per the plan, for every 50,000 population, one such health care unit would be identified, strengthened and upgraded to a PUHC.
