The health policy of India, in keeping with the WHO declaration at the Alma Ata conference of 1978, is to provide affordable, accessible and sustainable high-quality health care for all.

Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to come anywhere near the cherished goal and there is a sense of disillusionment and dissatisfaction amongst the public regarding the present state of affairs in the medical sector.

The time has now come for us to overcome this inertia and prepare a road map on a short, medium and long-term basis so that we can regain public faith in both the private and public sectors.

The basic infrastructure of the Indian health care delivery system was based on the recommendations of the Bhore Committee, which was formed before Independence under the chairmanship of Sir Joseph Bhore.

The committee, which had Dr B.C. Roy as a member, published its report in 1946. The committee recommended a three-tier health care delivery system (primary, secondary and tertiary). The emphasis was on primary care, the base of the infrastructure, providing both preventive and curative care.

The committee also recommended the ideal number of health centres, doctors, nurses and health assistants that would be needed to cater to a particular number of people.

After Independence, the recommendations were implemented in successive five-year plans although we are still struggling to make up the numbers, particularly if we consider the provisional census report of 2011.

In Bengal, according to the latest statistics, there are 269 rural hospitals, 79 block primary health centres, 909 primary health centres and 10,356 sub centres. And these numbers are well below the target level.

The lack of other infrastructure manpower, equipment and medicine is a perennial problem, particularly in the rural sector.

Moreover, there is a sharp urban-rural division in the health sector. A good example of this is that rural areas have only 31 per cent of the countrys hospital beds and only 26 per cent medical graduates practice there although 70 per cent of Indias population lives in villages.

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Health care with a humane face