Healthcare on the go

Monday, February 24, 2014

Most of us have been embarrassingly blind to the fact that so many Indians can’t see. Or that so many Indians do not even have access to basic healthcare.

The numbers: 80 per cent of India’s 12 million-plus blind (about 30% of the world’s total blind population) could have been avoided. Besides, it is a shame that 8% of India’s rural primary health care centers do not have doctors or medical staff; some 39% do not have lab technicians; 18% do not even have a pharmacist.

The reality then is that when you are ill in rural India you either go to a government facility where you are treated like cattle or go to a private facility where you are skimmed (combination of fee and bill carves out a sizable fraction of your monthly income).

Source: Mumbai Mirror (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Environment, Health Care
Tags
scale