The concept and norms of three - tier system of health care are gradually getting blurred. Earlier patients from not so good economic strata were going to neighborhood doctors especially RMPs and slightly aware with enough resources would go to old timer Allopathic doctors usually located in towns and small cities. People who required surgical intervention or specialized care were directed to specialists in bigger Govt Hospitals. Rarely, patients who required cardiac or neurological opinion were referred to Tertiary Care Institutions, which were very few in number.
In this system all patients were managed satisfactorily without causing overcrowding and undue financial burden to sick people. Maximum cases were treated at the periphery or in situ and few serious cases were referred to Superspecialist centres. The shape of patients referral was a straight Pyramid . As the number of seats…
