First, the bad news. India continues to lag behind in healthcare services more than half a century after independence. The population-to-bed ratio in India is one bed per 1,000, the World Health Organisation norm being one bed per 300. So the fact that there are over 13,000 hospitals with ‘adequate’ facilities might not be something to brag about in a country as populous as India. Even their distribution is skewed. While there are 3,115 hospitals in Maharashtra and 2,040 in Kerala, Himachal Pradesh has only 57 hospitals and Haryana, 78. The difference is primarily due to the difference in the extent of private sector participation in the health sector. In states like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala, some 90 per cent of all hospitals are owned privately.
That, in a curious way, is the good news. At least as far as the business of health is concerned. The past decade was marked by an explosion of private healthcare facilities in Indian cities. The Chennai-based Apollo Hospitals kicked it off with the country’s first corporate hospital service in the early ’80s. Emboldened by the success of private hospitals, even some government-owned hospitals have improved. No wonder the Indian healthcare industry is estimated to be close to Rs 1,00,000 crore today and is expected to grow at a steady 15 per cent annually.