The application of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare is one of the most significant trends to have emerged in digital health in recent years. New projections suggest the sector can expect significant growth in the next few years. By 2026, forecasters have said AI-based healthcare will be worth US$8 billion – a growth of 49.7 […]
Healthcare
Malnutrition in Muzaffarpur – hotspot of Bihar’s encephalitis deaths
The outbreak of acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district has raised eyebrows about the efficacy of healthcare infrastructure in the state. Now, one initiative aimed at combating malnutrition – implicated as a cause behind the crisis of encephalitis deaths among the district’s children – has come under scrutiny. The district ranked eighteenth out […]
Medical waste: A pollution crisis no-one talks about
Because of pollution, 350 hospitals and clinics in Goa face closure. This is not because of air pollution, however. It is because of a different pollutant entirely: medical waste. The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has issued show cause notices to the facilities in question because of their failure to “[apply] for authorisation and […]
#HealthForAll: Why India lacks access to healthcare
Here is another example of the crumbling state of India’s healthcare infrastructure and the reason behind lack of access to essential, life-saving drugs. India has a shortage of an estimated 600,000 doctors and two million nurses, claims a study conducted by the Centre for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (CDDEP), titled “Access Barriers to Antibiotics.” […]
Strikes beset Indian hospitals
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 […]
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?
![A primary health centre in Thuravoor, Kerala. Strengthening India's primary healthcare infrastructure through HWCS is a core of Ayushman Bharat. (Image credit: Ranjithsiji [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons)](https://i1.wp.com/www.healthissuesindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/800px-Thuravoor_Primary_Health_Center_Main_Building.jpg?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1 "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 […]