Healthcare in India

Healthcare in India is both public and private.  

The public hospital system is mostly free for Indian residents.  The poorer people are covered by the  National Health Protection Scheme. Those with monthly salaries are in the  Employees' State Insurance. There are four main public health insurance funds: the National Insurance Company, The Oriental Insurance Company, United India Insurance Company and New India Assurance and there are private insurance providers.  Employers must give their workers health insurance.

Plans started in 1944 to build a network of primary health centres to cover the whole country.  By 1967 there were about 4000 but many had no doctor. At that time there were 85 medical schools.

The Indian Medical Journal said in 1966 that quackery was common in the country. The 1961 Health Survey pointed out that traditional medicine did not deal with public health or preventative medicine. It had little to say about obstetrics or gynecology.   

 References