Universal Access and Financial Costs: The IMS study noted that long waiting time and absence of diagnostic equipment at public facilities has caused an increasing number of patients to rely on private healthcare facilities. Quality of treatment is also a reason why patients switch to private centres. However, this shift from public to private care is posing an affordability challenge to poor patients. Children and women in India are at the receiving end of the poor healthcare framework. Lakhs of babies do not survive the first day due to limited or no access to quality healthcare. Thousands of mothers die while giving birth. Child marriages have led to complications in early child birth, owing to poor maternal health and lack of sex education. The infants that survive such complications are more likely to be underweight and stunted due to malnutrition and lucky if they survive beyond the age of five, reported a study by The Lancet last year. This has led to higher maternal and infant mortality rates as well as severe disabilities. Besides, Health.India.com has reported that 2.1 million avoidable deaths attributed to tuberculosis, malaria, diarrhoea, dengue, Japanese Encephalitis, Kala Azar, nutritional deficiencies, perinatal conditions and maternal conditions in India. Since these are essentially water-borne diseases, it is difficult not to worry about India’s sanitation facilities and poor hygiene. The current standards of sanitation facilities in India look dismal with 33 percent of people having no access to toilets, and 50 percent of the entire Indian population defecating in the open. Meanwhile, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease, diabetes, and mental health conditions are adding to India’s woes. Cancer cases in India are on the rise. Unfortunately, here, they are detected at an advanced stage which calls for sophisticated cancer diagnostic equipments. On the other hand, most NCDs are lifestyle diseases and contrary to the popular belief, these are affecting more poor than the rich in the country. A survey in the KG Halli region of Bangalore showed three-times higher prevalence of NCDs like diabetes and hypertension in city slums, in comparison to the affluent class. Also, older people and women were more likely to report chronic conditions. Published in international BioMed Central (BMC) Health Services Research medical journal, the survey also stated that over 80 percent of the poor patients were referred to a private healthcare centre or super-specialty hospitals by PHCs. Clearly, Indians need more than roti, kapda aur makaan-
1. An umbrella of universal insurance, Medicaid and Medicare like that in the West
2. Healthcare on top of the priority list, medical infrastructure accessible to all with best utilisation of healthcare workforce
3. PPPs to boost the development of medical IT and infrastructure
4. Specialised research and development towards vulnerable groups Poor Indian children, especially girls, get no healthcare: report

The poorest countries are not providing children adequate basic healthcare, says the latest report from Save the Children
More than 53% of children (67 million) in India under the age of 5 have no access to basic healthcare facilities, according to the latest status report brought out by Save the Children, ‘State of the World’s Mothers 2008: Closing the gender gap for children under 5’.
This means that one-third of the 200 million children in the world who don’t receive adequate healthcare are Indian. Poor children in India, Egypt and Brazil are three times more likely to die before their fifth birthday than children in other parts of the world.
Malnutrition among children continues to haunt India. Over 40% of children under the age of 5 suffer from moderate or severe malnutrition in India, Madagascar, Niger, Sudan, Timor-Leste and Yemen.
The report highlights the poor health condition of girls in India. In most