RURAL HEALTHCARE
A pertinent problem currently faced by indian healthcare industry pertains to the access of diagnostic healthcare in rural India. There is an utter lack of good and well-functioning licensed laboratory services in rural India. Laboratory services that are present in the rural India are marred with shortages of pathologists, technicians, biochemists, and other staff members, in terms of the availability. the WHO prescribes a 1:1000 doctor-patient ratio, while in India the ratio is about 11,456 Rural India has lesser number of doctors and diagnostic facilities as compared to urban areas. which is a huge issue with the chronically ill, who require complex and expensive long-term monitoring and treatment strategies
MUCH OF INDIA LIVES IN ITS RURAL SOIL
Nearly 70 per cent of the country’s population lives in rural areas. Of the 121 crore Indians. 833 crore live in rural areas while 37.7 crore stay in urban areas said the Census of India’s 2011 Nearly 86% of all the medical visit in India are made by ruralites with majority still travelling more than 100. km to avail health care facility of which 70-80% is born out of pocket landing them in poverty.
Health is not everything but everything else is nothing without health 
Tuberculosis & We
A 19% increase was witnessed in 2021 from the previous year in TB patients’ notification. The number of incident TB patients (new and relapse) notified during 2021 was 19,33,381 against the 16,28,161 in 2020, noted India TB Report 2022 released on Thursday.
THE HINDU Bindu Shajan Perappadan NEW DELHI MARCH 24, 2022 1649 IST
In countries where large portions of the population are rurally located and reside in extreme poverty, TB is dominant among rural dwellers. Poverty and limited access to health facilities and health workers significantly diminish the ability of people with TB who reside in rural areas to obtain timely diagnosis and treatment. Stigma and widespread lack of knowledge about TB are also more common in rural communities. stopTB.org
Multiple strategies to overcome these barriers exist and should be implemented at scale.
