PharmEasy Blog
Analyzing Healthcare In India: 2016
Healthcare in India as a whole has gotten accustomed to the clasp of diseases that is slowly tightening its grip on the citizens, taking them down with vicious blows time and again.
An article in Forbes India recently mentioned a few statistics about the current health scenario in India that the WHO has mentioned. Non-Communicable diseases account for 60% of the deaths in India. 26% of Indians die as a result of one of the four main non-communicable diseases- cancer, stroke, respiratory problems and diabetes. There are 62.8 million diabetics in India with about 80 million pre-diabetics. Each year around 6,00,000 people in India die due to cancer each year. Every 10 minutes one woman dies due to breast cancer. The saddening fact is that almost seven out of ten cancer patients in India die as a result of late detection of the disease. How many of us even know that more than half of the cancers are associated with lifestyle choices, including the use of tobacco and obesity?
These alarming statistics show that apart from just improving the healthcare in India, India needs to go a step further and make its citizens want to lead a healthy life and take steps towards it. Inculcating healthy living as a daily habit and making it a personal goal is the necessity of the hour. Just a collective will to take a small step towards healthy living can make a huge difference.
These effects add up to and impact social and economic standpoints catastrophically too. As mentioned in the article, challenging lifestyle diseases is a matter as crucial and important as tackling the issue of climate change. It just hasn’t got its share of importance and acknowledgement yet.
The first step towards this could probably be following China’s footsteps and making health screening at pre-determined intervals compulsory. This can be catalyzed by first providing infrastructure and an efficient talent pool. WHO has set the doctor-population benchmark to 2.5 doctors per 1000 people. Healthcare in India is struggling to maintain 0.65 doctors per 1000 citizens.
If healthcare in India is to be improved and strengthened right from the grass-root level, India first needs to target the villages and the healthcare facilities in India. The primary healthcare centres (PHCs) are deficit. Shockingly 8% of them don’t even have doctors or medical staff, 18% don’t have a pharmacist while 39% don’t have lab technicians!
What India needs is not just a way to tackle diseases (not saying that we are efficient at that) but more importantly, we need to work on ways to prevent these diseases from occurring. To educate and instil in the citizens the will to stay healthy and give healthcare its due importance. Healthcare in India is at a crossroad where it needs to pick up arms and rage war against diseases, right now!Disclaimer: The information provided here is for educational/awareness purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for medical treatment by a healthcare professional and should not be relied upon to diagnose or treat any medical condition. The reader should consult a registered medical practitioner to determine the appropriateness of the information and before consuming any medication. PharmEasy does not provide any guarantee or warranty (express or implied) regarding the accuracy, adequacy, completeness, legality, reliability or usefulness of the information; and disclaims any liability arising thereof.Links and product recommendations in the information provided here are advertisements of third-party products available on the website. PharmEasy does not make any representation on the accuracy or suitability of such products/services. Advertisements do not influence the editorial decisions or content. The information in this blog is subject to change without notice. The authors and administrators reserve the right to modify, add, or remove content without notification. It is your responsibility to review this disclaimer regularly for any changes.
