There is a need to focus on all three levels of healthcare in India with special focus on the primary health care. Comment.

Healthcare in India is in the developing stage with nearly 1.6% of GDP being spent on health care.

There is a need to focus on development of all three levels of healthcare as:

• Rising burden of non-communicable diseases.
• To ensure robust healthcare in time of crisis, e.g. Covid pandemic.
• Secondary sector still faces a huge gap in demand-supply of services.
• Poor Doctor-patient ratio.
• To develop India as a hub of medical tourism.
• Rising geriatrics population.

But, the need to focus on improving primary health care is more as:

• A robust primary health care system ensures that secondary and tertiary healthcare is also accessible. Wide range of problems can be tackled if PHCs are developed.
• Developed PHCs can cater better in times of crisis.
• Still the majority population lives in villages, where even PHCs remain in poor condition.
• PHCs can ensure child nutrition, women nutrition, institutional delivery, neonatal care, minor health issues, etc.
• Developed PHCs network will ensure proper vaccination, immunisation.

The proper PHC development will automatically revive the healthcare system.

Measures to improve PHCs:

• Training of midwife, ASHA workers to assist PHCs in case of personnel shortage.
• Improving connectivity.
• Infrastructure development.
• Utilising private cooperation, CSR.
• Including NGOs.

Healthcare development is the first step in ensuring a well developed nation.