This document provides information about health systems in India. It notes that India has a population of over 1.2 billion people spread across 35 states with wide disparities in wealth. The ratio of health professionals to population is low at around 2 per 1000 people. It discusses the evolution of health systems from ancient times focusing on Ayurveda and the establishment of modern allopathic medicine by the British. It highlights some pioneering Indian medical innovations and researchers. It also notes the fragmented private healthcare sector in India which spends a lower percentage of GDP on healthcare compared to other countries. It argues that New Zealand and India have a longstanding friendship and opportunities to partner in areas like public health.

1. India – Health
Created for U3A-Okeover.org
Arindam Basu
University of Canterbury,
arin.basu@gmail.com

2. About India
• Located in South Asia
• Himalayas to the North
• Indian Ocean to the South (Indian Ocean?)
• About 10 hours flight from New Zealand

3. Neighbours

4. Indian States

5. Himalayas to the North

6. Indian Ocean to the South

7. Some of the Oldest Continually Lived Cities are in India, for
instance, Varanasi

8. Complexity of India
• One of the Oldest Continually Lived Countries
in the world
• 1.2 Billion People
• 35 states, federal republic, Westminster type
government
• Wide Disparity in Wealth Distribution
(“Northern Californias within Subsaharan
Africas” – Amartya Sen)

9. Health Workforce Issues
• Crude Birthrate 23 per 1000
• Fertility Rate: 2.3 (~2 children per woman)
• Ratio of Health Professionals per population:
1.9 (~ 2 health care workers per 1000 people!)

10. India’s population growth rates

11. India’s Health Problems: Illnesses

12. India’s Health Problems: Deaths

13. India’s Health Issues: Risk Factors

14. Different Systems in India

15. Evolution of Indian Health Systems
• Ancient Era (Ayurveda Mainly)
• Advent of the Persians and Mughal Rule in
India (Unani and Middle Eastern Traditional
Medicine)
• East India Company and the British Raj
(Establishment of the Modern Allopathic
Medical Care) but also Complementary and
Alternative Medicine
• Integrative Medicine in India and Innovations

16. Ayurveda: Susruta the Surgeon
Susruta was a surgeon whose techniques of rhinoplasty are relevant even today

17. Ayruveda: Charaka-Samhita
System of Natural
Medicine Developed
Indigenously in India
The Experts Travelled far
and Wide
Indian Medicine Was
Known throughout the
Greek and Roman Empire

18. Advents of the British
Establishment of East
India Company
Established in 1600 to
trade in the East Indies in
opium, saltpetre, dye, tea,
cotton and Silk by the
Royal Charter
Covenant of the Crown
and Established its first
Medical College in India in
1835

19. Medical College Calcutta
Calcutta Medical College was the Medical College
Established in 1835 , and the first medical school in
Asia, and one of the firsts anywhere outside of Europe

20. Indians Have Pioneered Several
Landmark Medical Drugs & Devices
Dr. Kedar Nath Das Invented Forceps
that are used for difficult delivery of
babies

21. Sir Ronald Ross and Malaria Research
Ross won Nobel Prize in 1902 for his work on Malaria
The work was accomplished at the Post Graduate Institute of Medical
Education and Research

22. Sir Upendranath Brahmacari
identified the causal agents of Kala
Azar, a protozoan parasitic fever
(Leishmaniasis)
The work was accomplished at the
School of Tropical Medicine and
Hygiene in Calcutta

23. Post Independence, Indian Excellence
in Medical Care Continued … But there
are Challenges and New Turns …

24. • Highly Fragmented
• Private Sector: 80-85%
• US $6.5 Billion
• total investment US $86 Billion
• Spends 4.2% GDP on Healthcare (World Average: 8.5%)
• Healthcare spend: US $65 Billion
• Projected to: US $100 billion by 2015
Vignette of Indian Healthcare Industry

28. Major Players in Indian Hospital Systems

29. Does India-New Zealand Partnership Matter?
• India & NZ: Long standing Friendship,
• Shared legacy, lots of commonalities: British
Colonial Recent Past, English
Language, Cricket, Westminster type
governance, democracy …
• Yet they shared flip-flop relations …

30. • NZ welcomes India to Commonwealth, helps to
set up All India Institute of Medical Sciences
under Colombo Plan
• NZ sided with India during the 1962 war with
China, & again in 1971 Bangladesh War
• PM Norman Kirk played proactive role during his
tenure as Labour PM (1972-1974) despite India’s
first nuclear explosion
• PM Robert Muldoon’s Time, NZ decided to sell
the Chancery plot in New Delhi,
• Consulate in New Delhi was closed and
reopened
• PM David Lange: Sir Ed was appointed as NZ’s
ambassador to India
• Again took a turn for the worse following 1998
Pokhran Nuclear Blast

31. Where do we build this friendship to
develop health care?
• Share our Expertise in Public Health
• Our expertise in applying evidence based
healthcare and public policy translations