Context:
Recently, from Kerala, a State with one of the most advanced health care systems in the country, a report of medical negligence has been observed where it was found that a surgical instrument had been left in the patient’s stomach.
- Also, growing vacancies in seats to Bachelor of Dental Surgery and Master of Dental Surgery courses in dental colleges across the country are a matter of concern.
| Level of Care |
Description |
Focus |
Examples |
| Primary Care |
- First point of contact for basic health needs.
- Usually provided by general practitioners (GPs) or family doctors.
|
Preventive care, basic treatment, and health education. |
Regular check-ups, vaccinations, common cold treatment. |
| Secondary Care |
- More specialized than primary care.
- Involves and specialized medical professionals and facilities for specific conditions.
|
Diagnosis, treatment, and management of specific health issues. |
Specialist consultation (e.g., cardiologist, specific health dermatologist), X-rays, and minor surgeries. |
| Tertiary Care |
- Highly specialized and complex medical care.
- Often provided in large hospitals with advanced medical equipment.
|
Specialized surgeries, complex treatments, and rare treatments. |
Organ transplants, open-heart surgery, cancer treatments. |
A Medical College:
- A medical college hospital with state-of-the-art facilities is established with a view to ensure bedside care, a mandatory requirement for an apprenticeship, and is the most crucial component in medical training.
- An institution that has dual purposes:
- Educational Role: An institution for the education and training of students to become medical professionals through teaching and internship.
- Medical Care: It is expected that patients with serious illnesses can avail services from medical colleges anytime when they have a referral from the lower-level facilities.
- Need: The policy proposal of 2019 by the Union government to convert district hospitals to medical colleges, along with a policy of sanctioning an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)-like institution in every State, highlights the need to examine the contribution of medical colleges in patient care from a public health perspective.
Challenges faced by the Healthcare System in India:
- Poor Infrastructure and Connectivity
- Overloading of Patients
- Mismatch between Patient Needs and Provided Services
- Deficient Referral System
- Shortage of Specialists
- Non-functionality of Secondary-level Care Facilities
Way Forward:
- Awareness: To avoid myths, awareness and education of people is a must.
- Need to Redefine Priorities: Need to strengthen secondary-care facilities, particularly district hospitals, which can cater to wider curative care requirements.
- Enhance Referral Systems: Need to implement and reinforce the efficient referral systems from primary healthcare centers to well-equipped district hospitals.
- Strengthening of Infrastructure & Connectivity: Need to focus on development of existing infrastructure, connectivity and clinical facilities.
- A Standard Approach: A standard model and approach should be built by consensus and then need to be adhered strictly to avoid mismatching like some district hospitals that have a history of resisting the proposal to convert to medical colleges and are still doing well in patient care.
- Prioritization: Secondary-care facilities need to be prioritized over large state-of-the-art medical colleges if curative care needs of the people are the priority.
News Source: The Hindu
25 Aug 2023
