Abstract
Health care is a crucial indicator that always requires primary attention. Every human being faces health problems either minor, significant severe, or mild. Accessibility to health services is one of the prime factors that determines the nature of the social well-being of a country. The poor and marginalized section of India, suffer mainly due to the lack of access to health in any form. Thus, inequality in the service of health care is a frequent phenomenon. A large section of the empirical study about healthcare inequality in India portrays a dismal picture in India where at present not even one percent of GDP is spent. Post-independence period in India included health care services in the directive principles of state policy during the formation of the Constitution of India. Nehru with his welfare program in mind did justice to the concept of the availability of health care as the 1960s and 1970s were the golden period of health care in India. The government started the program to eradicate malaria and smallpox, which resulted in large-scale infrastructure of public health in the 1950s and 1960s. Then slowly the penetration of privatization growth led to a considerable cut down in the government health care sector. This study on Jalpaiguri probes into the availability of healthcare facilities, and their distribution among different segments of the population. Keeping in mind the socio-economic status of the people the utilization pattern is examined, which shows the extent of inequality.
Presenters
Ranjit SinghResearch Scholar, Geography and Applied Geography, University of North Bengal, West Bengal, India
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2024 Special Focus—Health for Democracy, Democracy for Health
KEYWORDS
Inequality, Health care, Accessibility, Privatization, Availability, Utilization
