How Does the Largely Unregulated Private Health Sector Impact the Indian Mass?

Abstract

Private hospitals in India are least monitored by the government, which leads to violation of the roles and responsibility they have to offer for the community. Indeed, it is a more serious issue in a country like India where people are forced below poverty line (BPL) after every hospitalization. Of the four different models of health expenditure, India and, in fact, many developing countries follow the out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditure model rampantly. This is very evident from the recent working article (2015) published by NITI Aayog-Health Division, which reveals that OOP expenditures are high in India accounting for 69.5 per cent of total health expenditure. These are catastrophic economic damages for the poor and push an estimated 37 million into poverty each year. Furthermore, 66.4 per cent of the total expenditure is on medicines. A major part of these expenditures are invariably the money spent by a huge section of the community, both rich–poor and rural–urban, on healthcare services availed from the privately run corporate hospitals in India. The sector needs to be sensitive for an inclusive healthcare. However, the situation appears to be the opposite in India and the private health sector creates a divide in the society by virtue of which the rich get medical care and the poor stay sick or die. This article discusses various ethical concerns and remedial measures relating to the functionality of private hospitals which poses serious pressure on the community and marginalized sections of the society.