A comparative study of health delivery systems of India and China

Abstract

The medical systems which most of the developing countries have, are ad hoc adoptions inherited from their colonial masters and have met with little success in making health planning as part of their national planning. Very few countries have been able to overcome the resistance of the medical profession and the bureaucratic inertia which is a major obstacle in the transformation of this system to a broad based social service and integrating it with the process of socio-economic development planning. The adoption of this system by developing countries is a typical example of technological misfit. A cheap and labour intensive model for developing countries shall be a proper solution for the development of a health care delivery system for the masses. A solution to this problem is a mix or hybrid of the traditional and modern medicines which very recently have been exploited both in India and China. How far India and China have been successful and what is needed to be done is the subject matter of this paper.

PIP: The medical systems of most developing countries are ad hoc adoptions inherited from the colonial period and have met with little success in making health planning a part of national planning. Few countries have been able to overcome the resistance of the medical profession, and bureaucratic inertia is a major obstacle to creation of a broad based social service integrated into the socioeconomic development process. A cheap and labor intensive model of health care delivery is needed among developing countries, based on a mix of modern and traditional medical practices as has recently been attempted in India and China. Efforts by these 2 countries in this direction are explored.