Privatisation of Healthcare Systems in India

August 21st, 2012, Author: AIPH, Categories: AIPH Think Tank Indias health care system is characterized by a pattern of mixed ownership and with different systems of medicine Allopathy, Ayurvedic, Unnani, Sidda and Homeopathy. Three major groups in health care in the country, the public health sector, the private health sector and the households who utilize health services. In this scenario if we look into the developmental indices of the health indicators, India has achieved substantial improvements: life expectancy has increased, infant and maternal mortality has declined, and the coverage of most of the National Health Programmes is better. However, this progress is uneven; there are large State-wide variations, and performance in some States is significantly low. The biggest challenge is the productivity of public health sector in India is very poor. In this context it is true that privatisation is equated with efficiency and quality. The issues raised above need to be addressed properly
privatization of Health care is good because people are not satisfied with the government services. In government hospitals infrastructure facility is not available according to the current need. The government hospital is very dirty and very indecent. People will not know which doctor is treating them even his specialization. Where as in private hospital patient gets the proper treatment and every facility we can get in a single roof. As bed, machine for diagnosis, services from specialized doctor, Drugs, hospital cleanliness, privacy and also we dont have to wait for longer period to get the services. Commercialization of health care is good in the context of India but there is a need of regulation on private hospitals. Positive points of commercialization. 1. Introduction of new technology - our private hospitals are so much technological advance that a lot of foreigners come here for their operations. 2. All the government hospitals are flooded with patients and if there were no private hospitals in India one cannot even dare to think about the condition of health system in India. 3. Availability of large no of technological advance ambulance which can increase the chances of survival of a patient. There are various cons of commercialization of health system but these all can be eliminated with stricter regulation. Some areas where regulation is required are-. 1. Nowadays anyone can open a nursing home anywhere even in residential colonies, this increases the

chances of medical waste being dumped in residential areas which is extremely dangerous. 2. Private hospitals are provided various incentives by the government like subsidized loans, tax exemption etc. , but instead of charging nominal fee for their services they charge so much that only rich people can afford them. This system of incentives should be immediately ended. 3. There is no price mechanism; any hospital can charge anything for their services as they want. There should be a pricing system which should be followed by all the hospitals. 4. Nowadays it is believed that due to commercialization profession of doctors have become the second most corrupt business after politics. In my opinion it is somewhat true also. Doctors today are lured by private hospitals and nursing homes for commissions on sending the patients to them for medical tests and surgeries. Even they are given commission by medical companies. Many a times they advice patients of irrelevant tests and put on unnecessary medication just only to fill their pockets. There is a great need in here for tighter regulation and bringing of doctors under the jurisdiction of states rather than MCI.

In my view , i am strongly in oppose of privatization of healthcare system. Because (1) when u talk about the developing countries like India where a large amount of population is below poverty line then how can they afford the costly Health care system available in Private sectors? (2) It is a obvious fact that, private company definitely gives more importance to their profit earning , so in that case they are putting a huge burden upon all people of all level in society. (3) In any of The private healthcare system, there will be one in the top who will handle all type of decisions and have all power , so there is a chances of injustice which in any case cant be granted when we are talking about a mass public service. (4) like the transportation, agriculture, education the healthcare also need a huge amount of investment in terms of money and infrastructure which is maynt be entirely possible for private sectors. (5) If there is any chances of mismanagement in Private sectors , then the poor patient will suffer more than anybody else. (6) It has been practically seen that, the Doctors which are available in Govt. Hospitals are much more experienced than the doctors of private hospitals. So these are few points for which i am completely against of the privatization of Health sectors. Commercialization/privatization means providing services for ones own sake and benefit. And since ours is a developing country, more than 42% population are still below the poverty line earning less than a dollar per day. So, in this situation even imagination of commercialization may make ill to any poor. Now a days it becomes very difficult for a common man to knock the door of private hospitals for their treatment. It is true that some of the private hospitals are providing good medical facilities but the question is how many people in our country has access to there.The private hospitals are for the

CLASSES,not for the MASSES.About 70% of the the total population in our country reside in villages and almost all of them are poor. A poor man does not need an air conditioned room in hospital, does not ever have desire to be surrounded with beautiful nurses. He has only one dream of how early he can get rid of his disease without having any further financial burden, so that he can earn bread and butter for their dependents. Since, main motive of commercialization is profit, we should not be surprised when we are asked to pay hefty private hospital bills. Rather, the question that should be asked is what about that section of population which cannot afford to pay such huge amount. For them, commercialization is of no use. They are dependent on the government hospitals but unfortunately these cannot provide the desired services and which are responsible for the reason why commercialisation of health care has come up. In sum,commercialization of any sector means allowing more and more private players to enter the sector and as we all know that the main motive of the private sector is to earn profits more than anything else. They do not have any socio-economic objectives. When the main intention is to make profits, at some point or the other during their activities there might be a need to compromise on quality, without any wrong intention, in order to keep their costs down and hence increasing the gains. Because that is how a commercial activity works- to maximise gains at minimum costs. Any compromise on quality of services in the health care sector can prove to be disastrous as it is concerned with the lives of people.
Commercialization of health care has both positive and negative aspects. In a country like India where there are no prime facilities for health care in government hospitals people prefer to visit private hospitals, where they are treated very gently, but even collect a huge sum as bill. They are equipped with sophisticated equipment also. And people who cannot afford to spend money in private hospitals?What about them? In government hospitals, the doctors appointed are definitely very skilled, but the doctors do not give their 100%. They are opening private clinics and advising their patients to meet them in their clinic. And even the medicines given are not also efficient to cure the diseases. So it is essential for the people to migrate to private hospitals. The Government should take immediate action and provide genuine medicines and also increase the working hours of the doctors so that they are available to the patients all the time, and also equip the hospitals with the so called equipment available in private hospitals ! Even the people are not safe after going to private hospitals, because many tests are conducted simply in private hospitals which are not at all necessary !