Have you ever visited one of the premier hospitals – say the All India Institute of medical science (AIIMS) – in New Delhi? On any normal non-crisis day, hundreds of serious patients strive to occupy a hospital bed. Pathetically then, the Indian healthcare system has proved to be thoroughly inept in providing for the basic needs of healthcare in the country. According to the last available WHO report, India has fewer than one bed and one doctor per 1,000 population. India has 6,00,000 beds, compared to China’s 3.2 million hospital beds across the country. A state-wise analysis show that 33% of Maharashtra’s hospital beds are concentrated in its capital Mumbai alone. More than 50% (of the 60,000 that are registered) of Maharashtra’s doctors have practice in Mumbai.
Even the private participation for additional beds is not sufficient (even after its 13% annual growth). The Maninder Acharya Committee found that out of the 26 hospitals that it visited, 23 had not admitted a single poor patient. WHO suggests that India has to add 80,000 beds every year to meet its deficiencies. Would India be able to match up to this ask? That’s just a ‘bed’time story...