Rural Healthcare Infrastructural Disparities in India: a Critical Analysis of Availability and Accessibility

Abstract

Health and well being of human resource plays an important role in the economic as well as social development of the country. To ensure better health of the people an adequate healthcare infrastructure is of primary importance. Inadequate infrastructure generally leads to poor quality of health services which is positively dangerous to health and welfare of the community at large. About 68% of India’s population still lives in rural areas, yet healthcare infrastructures in these areas are in pathetic condition. There are very few government health centers and even those are devoid of most of the medical facilities and personnel’s. Although the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), launched in 2005 has made significant progress in the healthcare infrastructure (mainly in physical infrastructure) in rural areas and has impacted the lives of rural masses to some extent but it has simultaneously failed to bring desired results because of lack of implementation. So the accessibility and availability of health facilities as well as delivery of quality services in the rural areas deserve considerable attention from planners, researchers and healthcare workers. In this context, the present paper critically examines and evaluates the disparities in availability as well as accessibility of health infrastructure in rural areas of India.