Are private players really the remedy to all that ails public healthcare?

From privatisation of roads to water bodies, to the killer Blueline buses of Delhi, most private ventures of the government have resoundingly failed

Thirty-year-old Aarti Devi (name changed) stared incredulously as I prescribed analgesics for her back pain. No, she wasn’t unhappy with the treatment, but was troubled  because I had prescribed analgesics three times a day after meals, on a full stomach. I realised that buying analgesics was not an issue. Getting three square meals a day, however, was.

In India, the ruptures within the healthcare delivery system do not pertain merely to issues of infrastructure or want of capital, they go far beyond. Thus, it is imperative to analyse the government’s flagship programme – Ayushman Bharat – within the context of the