“Prevention is better than cure”

The right to be healthy is one of the most fundamental rights for people to live a contented life. Indian constitution
has recognized healthcare as a fundamental right. To safeguard these rights various laws and policies have been
formulated by our government. which have improved our health care facilities of our time. India aims to provide a
quality primary healthcare to all its citizens. To provide standard health care the government of India came up with
significant amount of policies and schemes which are executed by MoHFW.

The healthcare system in which essential healthcare is universally accessible, easily affordable, and acceptable to
every individual. Major hospitals are present only in cities, primary healthcare helps to tackle the disease and illness
in rural areas and bringing these services as close to the people’s home. With the help of active participation of
communities, the government can overcome the language, cultural and communication barriers. Primary healthcare
cannot be provided by the healthcare sector alone, the different departments of government has to come together to
achieve this. Primary healthcare does not have adequate money for doing costly operation and treatment. Primary
health Centre relies on low budget technology like ORS which has been founded by India for diagnosing diarrhea
and dehydration.

Healthcare system in India

Primary level (contact between patient and primary level)

Sub centers (initiated by central government, constitutes of 3 staffs)

Primary health centers (contact between village and doctor, initiated and funded by state government,
constitutes of 15 members)

Condition of primary health care in india

india is the most densely populated country in the world. It ranks high in the list of most ill nations. 32% of death
occur due to the health related diseases. India ranks 154 out of 190 in healthcare index.

The budget of healthcare is only 2% of india’s GDP.

There is a poor patient to doctor ratio. ( 1/ 10000)

Lack of infrastructure.

Low public spending.

Low health cover for rural population.

Large number of private centres have caused a rise in the healthcare expenditure.
Government initative to tackle these problems,

Health and wellness centres (HWCs)

Envisioned in National Health Policy, 2017. Primary Health Centres, Sub Centre, Community Health Centres are
upgraded to Health and wellness centres. This HWS brings health care system close to home. In HWC 70% of
disease can be traced and cured in the block level itself or later complications can be prevented to a great extent.
HWC is now equipped with secondary and tertiary amenities which is very much useful for the citizens. Millions of
citizens faces difficulties with out pocket expenditure this can reduced with the help of HWC. Non communicable
diseases poses a great threat in our society this impacts in the development of human lives and as well as growth of
the nation. In HWS most of non communicable diseases can be traced. Till April, GOI approved 1,50, 000 plus
HWCs out of which nearly 1,20,000 are operationalised. The screenings done were as follows: hypertension 19 c,
diabetes 15.73c, oral cancer 10.33c, cervical cancer 3.41c, breast cancer 5.06c.

Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA):

• ASHA, a part of NHM, is a trained female community healthworkers selected from the community itself and
trained to work as an interface between the community and public health system.

In 2008 the Government of India brought the National health insurance scheme for the rural population of India.
This scheme provided medical coverage of worth 3 Lakh rupees to a family working in the unorganised sector. A
similar scheme was also introduced at the state level, but none of these schemes followed a particular standard.

The National Health Protection Mission or Aayushman Bharat Yojna is launched by the government is the first
major step in the direction to improve Primary Health care in India.

It will focus on providing good Healthcare to the weaker section of the society. It aims to provide insurance up to 5
Lakh Rupees to each family. This scheme also intends to improve the secondary and tertiary sector. According to
the government, it is the world’s largest healthcare scheme ever. But we think that the time will tell the worthiness
of this scheme.

Way forward

Right now we need to shift focus from hospital centred model to strengthened primary health care system in India.
For this, medical practisers should provide training and encourage working in primary care.

Adequate infrastructure must be built with high tech equipment so that complete diagnoses can be provided at the
Primary Healthcare itself. Also, we have to improve the representation of primary healthcare provider in decision
making bodies like MCI.