Human Development in India - NCAER

106 human development in indiaBox 7.2Government and Private Health FacilitiesThe IHDS documents that households rely overwhelmingly on private providers. The IHDS visited one private and onegovernment health facility for each sample village/urban block. In each sample area, facilities that were the most frequentlyused by residents for treatment of minor illnesses were selected. The resulting sample of 3,777 facilities is nationwide but notnationally representative; thus, results should be treated with caution.These data present a mixed picture. Government facilities are far better equipped than private facilities, with bettertraineddoctors and greater availability of medicines, greater ability to conduct routine blood and urine tests, and advancedequipment. However, they also seem to suffer from neglect. Walls and floors are more often unclean, and the facilities areopen slightly fewer hours than the private ones. Most importantly, only 76 per cent of the doctors/directors were present atthe time of a visit, compared with 87 per cent in private facilities.(in percentage)GovernmentPrivateType of Practice (not mutually exclusive)Allopathic 96 89Ayurvedic 12 31Homeopathy 4 10Unani 1 2Other 2 1Hours open weekly 62 66InfrastructureElectricity 83 90Toilet 80 46Examination table 85 81Floors not clean 15 8Walls not clean 18 9Medical FacilitiesAny antibiotics available 95 35Stethoscope 95 98Sterilization equipment/Autoclave 81 54Thermometer 97 97Haemoglobin test done (internally or externally) 61 29Routine urinalysis done (internally or externally) 52 26Doctor/DirectorHas MBBS 86 60Has ayurvedic degree/diploma 3 16No medical training 11 24Present at the time of the interviewer visit 76 87Notes: IHDS selected one predominant private and one government health facility typically used for treating minor illnesses inthe village/urban block. The provider sample is nationwide but not nationally representative.Source: IHDS 2004–5 data.