*UNHEALTHY INDIA* *Take your pick from a variety of reports put together by diverse agencies dealing with health-related issues — the World Health Organisation, the International Advisory Panel of the National Rural Health Mission, the UN International Children's Emergency Fund, the UN Development Programme or the World Bank — and a common theme stares back at you. It's the abject lack of a viable public health-care system, urban or rural, in India. The most recent review has come from economist Jeffrey Sachs, who heads the advisory panel of the rural health mission. The panel's conclusion is that India needs urgently to invest more in health care, particularly in rural areas, with a special focus on primary health-care providers. * * **
Interestingly, more thought was devoted to drive home the point that India needs to pay attention to non-communicable diseases like diabetes and nutritional imbalance, better trauma management facilities and tobacco abuse. But what about other factors — like understaffed, mismanaged, unhygienic and unfriendly government-run hospitals — that adversely impact public health? Very few can afford the luxury of turning to private hospitals and nursing homes. And not all of them are regulated or even run by qualified practitioners. * * ** The 2007 Human Development Report says life expectancy at birth of the average Indian is 63.7 years. Ranking 125th in the world, we are way below other countries in the quality and reach of health care. Barely 4 per cent of the population is above 65 years. The figure would be higher with better medical infrastructure and services, nutrition and better quality of life. India's health parameters compare poorly with even the other developing countries of South Asia. * * ** The conventional rural-urban demarcation is no longer an important point of reference in planning development or health missions. Increasingly, with satellite townships and suburbia interlinking cities and villages, the line between the urban and rural is getting blurred. Classification of welfare services as urban and rural serves no special purpose other than to dissipate funds and energy. The health ministry must take steps to ensure that primary health centres are operational, that generic drugs are available across markets, that emergency services including trauma care are up and running, and that hospitals — private or public — follow stringent standards of hygiene and efficient waste disposal. Health care is not only about providing basic medical services; it is also about prevention and care through awareness, hygiene and sanitation. *
