India’s poorly funded health care system—the government shells out less than 1.3 percent of GDP on health care each year—means that the country faces devastating shortages even in the normal course of things.
India has 69,265 hospitals of which over 43,000 are privately owned and fewer than 26,000 are owned by the government. The state-owned facilities, though highly subsidized, are often poorly funded and mismanaged. As a result, many patients flock to private health care.
This has made private health care a flourishing business.
