Essay on Public Healthcare System in India or Assam (APSC mains)

…... Abdul Munim

Introduction: - Health is the real wealth of a society. The modern public healthcare system
was initiated in India during the colonial period. After independence also, the government of
India has been taking various steps to develop the public healthcare system in India till now.

Levels of Public Healthcare system: - The public healthcare system in India is organized
into primary, secondary and tertiary levels.

(i) Primary Level: There are sub centers, Primary health centers and mini primary
health centers at the primary level. A sub centers serves extremely rural areas
having population of 5000. Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) and Multipurpose workers
(MPW) are manned at sub centers. At now community health officers are appointed
some sub centers. Mini primary health care and primary health care are manned by
doctors, pharmacist, laboratory technician, nurses (ANM & GNM) and other workers.
These serve rural areas having population of 30,000 or more. Along with primary
medical care and immunization it also educates people about health habits.

(ii) Secondary Level. Community hall centers, sub-district hospitals are the secondary
level. These serve urban areas having population of 1, 20,000 or more.

(iii) Tertiary Level: The government colleges and district general hospitals are tertiary
level. It is the final referral unit for the primary and secondary healthcare system.

Schemes related to health care system:- In order to improve the healthcare system in
India, the union ministry of health and family welfare has been adopted various initiatives that
affects all people in India i.e. national health mission, Ayushman Bharat. National mental health
programme, national leprosy control programme, national vector borne disease control
programme, DOTS and ASHA etc.

Causative factors for depletion health system: - In spite of all these schemes the health
scenario of India is not up to the mark in comparison to the developed countries. Some of the
factors of the deplorable conditions are – low quality care, corruption, lack of accountability,
economic barriers to access the services, insufficient man-power etc.

Solution for these causative factors (My opinion):- If the public healthcare system has to
be successful in India, the government along with public and health professions should get
together. The health institutions should be staffed and sufficient man-power. The people in
general and students in particular should be taught how to remain healthy, maintain personal
hygiene and about preventive against various diseases. All should keep it mind that-prevention
is better than cure.

Conclusion:-If all efforts from various angles are put together, the public healthcare system in
India may be expected to compete with the developed countries, in near future.