When the Right to Life Ends at the Hospital Gate
- Sakshi Mishra
- Feb 4
- 6 min read
New Delhi — This situation can no longer be termed a crisis. It is a deliberate slaughter through indifference.
From 2015 to 2025, the healthcare system in India has revealed a harsh reality: if you belong to the underprivileged, you perish as you wait; if you are in the middle class, you are exploited before you can live; if you are affluent, you secure your life through purchasing options. Public hospitals are failing, private healthcare institutions are capitalising, and the government is evading responsibility.
PEOPLE PASSING AWAY OUTSIDE MEDICAL FACILITIES: A TRAGEDY BECOMING COMMONPLACE
Throughout India, spanning from Delhi to Mumbai and Bihar to Uttar Pradesh, identical scenes occur each day: Individuals resting on stretchers in front of emergency departments
Relatives pleading for hospital space for prolonged periods. Severely ill patients are succumbing before they can be admitted due to the unavailability of beds. These fatalities could be avoided, yet they persist because the framework is intentionally flawed, not coincidental. Public hospitals frequently run at 150 to 300 per cent of their intended capacity. Emergency departments have transformed from urgent care areas to waiting places for death. Hospital capacity and healthcare providers in India are alarmingly insufficient. With only approximately 1.3 hospital beds available for every 1,000 individuals, the nation falls significantly short of the World Health Organisation's suggested range of 3 to 3.5 beds. For perspective, Germany provides nearly 8 beds per 1,000 people, Japan exceeds 12, while China has around 4.3, highlighting India's significant lag despite its economic advancements. This deficiency results in millions of individuals being unable to secure prompt treatment each year, leading them to wait outside medical facilities or pursue costly private healthcare options. The predicament is exacerbated by a critical lack of healthcare workers. India requires over 600,000 doctors and close to 2 million nurses, leaving public hospitals severely understaffed. In numerous state-run establishments, a single physician frequently manages 80 to 100 patients daily, an unsafe situation that elevates the risk of medical mistakes and hinders urgent care access. Disturbingly, countless authorised positions are unfilled, even at leading organisations such as AIIMS and state-run medical colleges. This situation is not due to a deficit of skilled workers but stems from inadequate hiring practices, poor planning, and ineffective administration that have pushed the public healthcare system to a precarious state.AIIMS Delhi represents the pinnacle of public
healthcare in India, yet it is currently overwhelmed: Emergency departments are filled every day. There are waiting lists for operations lasting several months. Physicians are staging protests due to fatigue and lack of resources. If the nation's top government hospital is facing such difficulties, then hospitals in districts and rural areas have never had a realistic opportunity to succeed. As public hospitals deteriorate, private healthcare facilities have stepped in not as rescuers, but as businesses focused on profit. More than half of India's hospitals are run by private entities, and they manage upwards of 60% of the nation's ICU beds, which grants them excessive influence over critical care services. With the public health system faltering, individuals must navigate the private sector, where 62% of healthcare expenses are covered directly by patients. The outcome is catastrophic: medical costs drive over 55 million individuals into poverty each year. Various studies and patient testimonies show a troubling trend of exaggerated charges, unnecessary tests, demands for prepayment even during emergencies, and outright denials of care unless cash is provided upfront. Within this context, the chance of survival frequently hinges not on the urgency of medical needs but on one’s financial capability. What exists now is not healthcare; it is organised exploitation of human distress, made possible by the failure of public healthcare facilities and a lack of stringent oversight. Worldwide, India is positioned low in terms of healthcare accessibility and standards, holding about the 145th spot out of 195 nations, even though it is one of the largest economies on the planet. Global research reveals a disturbing reality regarding India's healthcare system: more individuals in India perish from inadequate medical care than from insufficient access to healthcare itself. In numerous situations, patients may arrive at hospitals; however, they fall victim to incorrect diagnoses, postponed treatments, overwhelmed and fatigued staff, or healthcare decisions motivated by profit. What is even more alarming is the data indicating that maternal and procedural mortality rates in private healthcare facilities often exceed those in public ones, fundamentally disputing the notion that higher costs guarantee superior care.
Expensive medical services do not ensure safety; they merely result in higher expenses. The idea is entirely debunked. Private healthcare in India is no more secure, merely pricier.
On an international level, India's standing is exceedingly disgraceful. The nation allocates roughly 2% of its GDP towards public healthcare, in stark contrast to a global norm of 6-8%, while OECD countries invest between 8-10%. This is not an issue exclusive to developing nations. India is a leading global economy, a nuclear power, and a frontrunner in digital technology. Nevertheless, it performs poorly in terms of healthcare accessibility, quality, and mortality rates, often trailing behind countries with significantly fewer financial and technological capabilities. This shortfall is not about financial constraints; it relates to political and ethical priorities. Government hospitals are failing not due to chance, but by design. Chronic financial neglect ensures that facilities do not keep pace with population growth or the burden of disease. Health policies and initiatives are announced continuously, yet their implementation is absent; programs are only theoretical while hospitals deteriorate in reality. Medical professionals are overextended, which leads to burnout, resignations, and a worsening shortage of staff. Rural hospitals crumble from neglect, compelling patients to seek help in overpopulated urban centres that are already beyond their limits. Most critically, there is essentially no accountability for avoidable deaths, as the refusal of care infrequently incurs legal repercussions. This is not a case of incompetence; it reflects institutional apathy. From a legal standpoint, the obligation is clear. Article 21 of the Indian Constitution secures the Right to Life, and the Supreme Court has consistently affirmed that the right to health and timely medical assistance is an integral component of this right. When a patient dies due to the unavailability of a hospital bed, when emergency treatment is postponed, or when care is refused due to the inability to afford it, the State bears constitutional responsibility. If authorities are not held accountable for preventable deaths within and outside healthcare facilities, then Constitutional protections have become empty phrases. The repercussions of this failure are suffered by the most exposed. The impoverished perish while awaiting care, the middle class is forced to sell property, take on unbearable debts, and descend into destitution to manage, as medical professionals face exhaustion, are blamed, and left to fend for themselves by the system. At the same time, private medical facilities achieve unprecedented profits. This is not a system of healthcare; it functions as a dual-tier survival economy, where financial resources dictate who survives and who does not. What needs to be altered is no longer up for debate;e it is imperative. Expenditure on public healthcare should increase to a minimum of 5% of GDP, and there must be extensive growth in the capacity of government hospital beds and ICUs, along with a prompt initiation of emergency recruitment for doctors, nurses, and paramedics. Pricing for private hospitals needs stringent regulation, any denial of emergency medical care should result in criminal repercussions, and auditing of hospital capacity and mortality statistics should occur in real time and be made accessible to the public.
The outcome is a national condemnation. From 2015 to 2025, India possessed adequate resources, skills, and personnel, but was lacking in determination, accountability, and empathy. When individuals die at the threshold of hospitals and survival hinges on wealth instead of medical necessity, this issue transcends a failure of governance; it represents a moral breakdown. A country that boasts economic advancement while neglecting those perishing due to a lack of care is not evolving; it is forsaking its citizens. And history will remember that.
SOURCES@ India’s hospital capacity and doctor ratio far below global norms, National data on beds and workforce, Public healthcare expenditure as a share of GDP remains low, AIIMS and other public facilities face critical staff vacancies
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