India's Healthcare Industry: A System Perspective

To western readers, analyzing a new healthcare system in the East might seem daunting. Indeed, it takes some of us decades to master an understanding of the healthcare system of our country of origin. Nevertheless, there are several methods for approaching an analysis of another country's healthcare system. These include exposition of some (hopefully) invariant principles regarding healthcare that apply across contexts, analysis of what a system of health might look like, comparison with the US system (with which many are already familiar), comparison with other emerging systems such as that of China, application of existing frameworks for healthcare system analysis, appraisal of the major transitions underway in the country's demographic, socioeconomic, political, and epidemiologic profile, and an analysis of the country's public health issues. The chapter analyzes India's healthcare system using each of these methods.