Doctors’ strikes in multiple Indian states are hitting public and private hospitals alike. A strike by private doctors in Uttarakhand is forcing many patients to turn to government hospitals for treatment. The week-long strike has resulted in public health facilities becoming overburdened by a sudden spike in demand. The issue has come to the attention […]
Healthcare
Lack of forensic doctors highlights a national crisis
Shocking findings from Punjab have served to highlight one of the biggest issues confronting public health in India: the country’s lack of specialist doctors. Doctors untrained in the field of forensics perform eighty percent of autopsies in the state. This is resulting in “poor quality of work”, warns Dr D S Bhullar, president of the […]
Healthcare equipment: The greatest disparity?
It is no secret that healthcare in India is a disparate situation. Urban areas, despite catering to a minority of the population, continue to house the majority of healthcare infrastructure. Rural areas often have such poorly developed healthcare infrastructure in their area that access to such basic medicines as paracetamol or ibuprofen is sporadic at […]
92 percent of surveyed Indians do not trust the healthcare system
More than 92 percent of Indians do not trust the healthcare system according to an annual survey conducted by fitness device firm GOQii. Alongside this mass distrust the survey also found that the most trusted public figure on health advice is Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar. A close runner-up for sources of health advice is yoga […]
Lack of healthcare transparency putting lives at risk?
Are lives being endangered through a lack of healthcare transparency? The delay in the recent reportings of the emergence of the Zika virus in India has posed a number of worrying questions. Why, if the first case occurred in November 2016 did it take until May 15th of the following year to report the presence […]
Cancer’s impact on health and wallets
World Health Organization (WHO) projections suggest that by 2030 India’s cumulative number of deaths due to cancer as of this year will number 13.1 million. This is a considerable figure and will place a vast strain on the healthcare expenditure of the country, as a large portion of expenditure is out of pocket. The financing […]
Two thirds of healthcare spending out of pocket
A recent study reveals that 65.6 percent of healthcare expenditure in India is out of pocket — paid for by the patients themselves. The study, conducted by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, University of Washington, was conducted based on evidence of healthcare expenditure in 2014. At 65.6 percent, India is placed sixth highest […]
Differences between Korean and Indian medical sectors
Two Indian doctors, Dr Anjali Chandra and Dr Bipin Solanki have had their experiences in a South Korean hospital documented by Korea Biomedical Business Review (KBMBR). The married couple spent three months on a fellowship programme at the Ewha Mokdong Hospital in Seoul. Although India has a medical system as sophisticated as that in South […]