India, a vast country with an area of some 3,287,800 kilometers, divided into 29 states, with a population of over 1.25 billion, speaking 16 languages with over a hundred dialects still remains a ‘developing country’ 55 years after attaining independence. The public expenditure on health (as percentage of GDP) was an abysmal 0.6% between 92-98 (1), though this has risen to some 1.3% since then. The infant mortality rate was 70 per thousand live births, and maternal mortality ratio 410 per 100,000 live births in 1998 (1). Hospitals run by the government are available in most cities, where citizens are entitled to free health care.
However it is impossible for the government to fulfil this obligation. A large number of private hospitals with facilities comparable to the best in the world have come up in recent years, but treatment in these is expensive. Private health insurance has…
