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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | India's dismal record in healthcare -Manas Chakravarty

India's dismal record in healthcare -Manas Chakravarty

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published Published on May 25, 2017   modified Modified on May 25, 2017
-Livemint.com

A new research by ‘Lancet’ shows India ranks 154 out of 195 countries in terms of access to healthcare, which is worse than Bangladesh, Nepal, Ghana and Liberia

Why is it that the world’s fastest growing major economy ranks below much poorer nations such as Bangladesh, Nepal, Ghana and even Liberia when it comes to healthcare for its masses? Last week, new research by medical journal Lancet, on the basis of data from the Global Burden of Disease report, 2015, said that India ranked 154 out of 195 countries in terms of access to healthcare.

Consider chart 1, which lists India and 14 other countries that have higher scores than India on the Healthcare Access and Quality Index. India has the highest per capita income of all the countries in the chart, but it ranks last on the healthcare index.

Bangladesh, for example, has per capita income slightly more than half of India’s. Yet, it ranks seventh among these 15 nations on the healthcare index. Nepal, even poorer than Bangladesh, ranks eighth. Vietnam, which ranks third among these 15 countries in GDP (gross domestic product) per capita, ranks first in the healthcare index. But perhaps the most telling statistic is that Liberia, with a per capita GDP less than one-seventh of India’s, does better than India on the healthcare index.

The healthcare data raises a host of questions. Why is it that communist and ex-communist countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyz Republic do so well on healthcare? Does the communist ideology make a difference? What accounts for Nicaragua’s superior health record—is this too a reflection of left-wing rule in that country? How does one account for Nepal and Bangladesh doing so much better than India? Why hasn’t democracy in India forced the government to be more responsive on health for the masses? And finally, is GDP or even per capita GDP truly a measure of well-being?

Chart 1 also has data for life expectancy and neonatal mortality rates for the 15 countries. Once again, Vietnam emerges at the top in life expectancy. India ranks a poor ninth. India ranks last, along with Ghana, in neonatal mortality among the 15 countries. As far as India is concerned, the data seems to suggest something is very wrong with its priorities—surely saving children’s lives should be of prime importance in any society?

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Livemint.com, 24 May, 2017, http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/YrcGbLpfbqrWH55xAzehUM/Why-India-ranks-below-Liberia-in-global-healthcare-rankings.html


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