Grade VII CIvics CBSE

1. WEL COME

2. ROLE OF THE GOVERNMENT
IN HEALTH

3. CONTENT
•Introduction
• What is Health?
• Health Care in India
• Public & Private Health Care Services
• Health Care & Equality
• What Can be Done?
• Case Study
a) The Kerala Experience
b) The Costa Rican Approach
* Conclusion

4. Introduction
In a Democracy people expect the government to work for their
welfare. This could be through the provision of education, health,
employment, housing or the development of roads , electricity ,
etc.

5. What is Health ?
•Health means our ability to remain free of illness and
injuries.
• But health isn’t only about disease. It means free from
diseases but without any mental strain too.
Factors Affecting our health:
i) Adequate Food
ii) Clean drinking water
iii) Pollution free environment
iv) Without mental stress

6. Health Care in India
Health care facilities in India Lagging Behind
 Most doctors settle in urban areas,
people in rural areas have to travel long
distances to reach a doctor. The number
of doctors with respect to the
population is much less in rural areas.
 About 5 lakh people die from tuber
culosis every year, 2 million cases of
malaria are reported every year.
 We are not able to provide clean
drinking water to all, 21% of all
communicable diseases are water borne
Ex: Diarrhea, Worms, Hepatitis etc.
 Half of the children in India do not get
adequate food to eat are
undernourished
 India has the largest number of
medical colleges in the world
and is among the largest producers of
doctors.
 Approximately 15000 new doctors
qualify each year.
 Health care facilities have grown
substantially over the years.
 In 1950, there were only 2,717
hospitals in India. In 1991 there
were 11,714 hospitals. In 2000 the
number grew to 18,218. In
2020 it reached to 25,778.
 India get a large number of medical
tourists from many
countries. They come for treatment in
some of the hospitals in
 India that compare with the best in the
world.
 India is 4th largest producer of
medicines in the world and is
also a large exporter of medicines

7. Public and Private health care Services
We can roughly divide various health care facilities in two
categories:
a) Public health services
b) Private health facilities

8. Public Health care Services
 Public Health care Service is a chain of health centres and
hospitals run by the government.
 They are linked together, so that they cover both rural and
urban areas and can provide treatment to all kinds of problems
from common illness to special services.
 At village level, there are health centres where there is usually
a nurse and a village health workers.
 They are trained with common illness and work under the
supervision of doctors at the primary health centre ( PHC ),
such centre covers many villages in a rural area.
 At District level the District Hospital that also supervises all
the health centres.

9. Cont….
 Money to run these services are obtained from the money that
we , the public , pay to the government as taxes. Hence, such
facilities are meant for every one.
 One of the most important aspects of the public health system is
that, it is meant to provide quality health care services either
free or at a low cost, so that even the poor can seek treatment.
 Another important function of public health is to take action to
prevent the spread of diseases such as TB, Malaria, Jaundice,
Cholera, Diarrhea, Chikungunya, etc.

10. Private Health Facilities
Private health facilities are owned and run privately by a company or an
individual doctor.
 A large number of such clinics, nursing homes , hospitals can be seen in the
Urban areas.
 There are many laboratories, that do tests and offer special facilities, such as
X-ray, Ultra sound, etc. There are also shops from where we buy medicines.
 In private facilities, patients have to pay a lot of money for every service that
they use.

11. Health and Equality
o In India, we face a situation where private sector in health care is increasing
but public services are not.
o Private services are concentrated in urban areas and run for profit making.
o The cost of these services is rather high, medicines are expensive. Many
people cannot afford them or have to borrow money when there is illness in
the family.
o Some private services encourage incorrect practices to earn more.
o Doctors prescribe unnecessary medicines, injections or saline bottles when
tablets or simple medicines can suffice.
o Only 20% people can afford medicines during an illness.
o 40% of people who are admitted to a hospital for some illness or injury have
to borrow money or sell some of their property to pay for the expenses.
o For poor, every illness in the family is a cause of great anxiety and distress.

13. What Can be Done/ Resolving issues
1. It is the responsibility of the government to assure an adequate
local public health infrastructure.
2. Providing health care services to all its citizens, especially the
poor and disadvantaged is prior duty of the government.
3. Preventing the spread of communicable diseases.
4. Promoting mobile clinics to go to the patient.

14. Cont….
5. Focusing on basic amenities and social conditions of the
people Ex: Providing nutritious food, pure drinking water,
pollution free environment and basic health facilities.
6. Government must establish appropriate health care facilities
such as health centres, hospitals, laboratories for testing,
ambulances services, blood banks etc, that can provide the
required care and services that rural patients need.
7. In order to run such facilities health workers nurses, qualified
doctors and other health professions are required, so
government should appoint and pay them hand sum salaries.

16. Case Study
a) The Kerala Experience:
In 1996 Kerala Government gave 40% budget to Panchayats for water, food,
women’s development and education, anganwadies and healthcare.
b) The Costa Rican approach:
Costarica is a healthiest country in South America, maintains no army, and
uses the budget on health, education and basic needs of people like safe
drinking water, sanitation, nutrition and housing.