A doctor reflects on the everyday in the public healthcare system, a monument of systemic inequity in which patients are turned into statistics out of context.
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.
Scarcity of beds and long waiting lists is a challenge for public hospitals worldwide. This study uses the Barber–Johnson technique to analyse the efficiency of five hospitals of India’s apex medical institute. Four hospital efficiency indicators based on annual hospital statistical reports from 2005–06 to 2015–16 were studied and compared with the respective figures of other countries. Though the results reveal a high efficiency of the five hospitals, there is a high probability of poor health outcomes in future. There is thus a need to redesign processes and to innovate better care models to improve healthcare service delivery.
State-funded health insurance schemes do not target the truly needy or completely miss them, while the government is unable to regulate the private sector. These aspects were not taken into account when the government announced the National Health Protection Scheme. The scheme will turn out to be just another means for the growth of the private sector in the secondary and tertiary care segments.
