Healthcare in Post-Independence India: Kolkata and the Crisis of Private Healthcare Services (Routledge Contemporary South Asia Series)

"This book analyses the development of private healthcare in post-Independence Kolkata, India, and the rapid expansion of private nursing homes and hospitals from a historical and sociological perspective. It offers an examination of the changing pattern of the entire health care sector, which over recent decades has transformed itself to a profit-making commodity. The book explores the complexities of the health care services in Kolkata with special emphasis on the emergence, growth, role and the changing pattern of private health care organisations and the decline or degeneration of the services of public hospitals. Post-1947 India experienced the implementation of new developments in public health services, amongst others vertical programmes, primary health centers, family planning welfare programmes and community health volunteers. Examining the challenges in establishing a comprehensive health service system and the process of market forces in health care, the author investigates its linkages with policies of the welfare state. This book will be of interest to academics in the field of medical sociology, history of medicine and health and development studies and South Asian Studies"-- Provided by publisher This book analyzes the development of private healthcare in post-Independence Kolkata, India, and the rapid expansion of private nursing homes and hospitals from a historical and sociological perspective. It offers an examination of the changing pattern of the entire healthcare sector, which over recent decades has transformed itself into a profit-making commodity.The book explores the complexities of the healthcare services in Kolkata with special emphasis on the emergence, growth, role and the changing pattern of private healthcare organizations and the decline or degeneration of the services of public hospitals. Post-1947 India experienced the implementation of new developments in public health services, amongst other vertical programmes, primary health centres, family planning welfare programmes and community health volunteers. Examining the challenges in establishing a comprehensive health service system and the process of market forces in healthcare, the author investigates its linkages with policies of the welfare state.This book will be of interest to academics in the fields of medical sociology, history of medicine, health and development studies, and South Asian studies. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of figures and tables Preface and Acknowledgement Introduction Chapter 1 Promises and Commitments: The Development of Healthcare Policies and Plans in Independent India Chapter 2 Changing Paradigm in Health Sector (Plans, Policies and Reports): Mid-1980s to 2000s Chapter 3 Public Health Sector and the Development of Nursing Homes in an Eastern Indian Metropolis: From Independence to Late 1990s Chapter 4 Causes behind the Changing Profile of Private Healthcare Sectors Chapter 5 The Metamorphosis of Private Healthcare Conclusion Index