Elsevier launches landmark literature on India's healthcare reforms

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, recently announced the launch of Health Care Reforms in India: Making Up for the Lost Decade, an authoritative and incisive look at India's healthcare system from the perspective of Rajendra Pratap Gupta, an expert healthcare observer as well as an influential and respected voice on public policy, innovation and the economy.

A media report cited World Health Organization's (WHO) recommendation of 1:1000 as the minimum requirement for doctor-to-population ratio, but The Lancet puts India's statistics at an average of less than 0.4 doctors per 1,000 population count. There is also a gaping disparity in healthcare support between India's rural and urban areas, with a supply of only 0.12 doctors to every 1,000 population in rural communities when compared to an urban supply of 1.13 doctors to every 1,000 population.

Health Care Reforms in India: Making Up for the Lost Decade - launched on February 3 to about 200 key academic, pharmaceutical, hospital and government representatives at the Elsevier-hosted "State of Health Care Reforms in India" seminar - documents the development of India's health care sector over the last 65 years and seeks to minimize the disparity by making the case for political priority and policies for universal healthcare coverage as well as an upstream pre-emptive approach to health through technology deployment and enablement.

"Health Care Reforms in India: Making Up for the Lost Decade is a milestone study into India's health care situation and provides insightful analyses of the history, policies and systems governing health care in the country," said Terig Hughes, Managing Director of Health Solutions for South and Southeast Asia at Elsevier, that publishes Gupta's work. "This important and well-researched piece of work highlights India's strategic focus and development goals of its health care system that includes thought-provoking recommendations and proposal for effective reforms."

Added Hughes: "Elsevier's objective is to ensure that government agencies as well as health care institutions, practitioners and workers have access to content, insights and information that help them understand and formulate effective policies to address the challenges of India's health care system. Gupta's book will surely resonate locally and globally with those in the field."