Healthcare is one of the main indicators to gauge the development of any society. Yet, in India, rarely is it an election issue or at the forefront of any election campaign. Health indicators like maternal and child health reflect a country and its economy’s progress.
So, with five Indian states set for elections later this year, here’s a health check for three of them. Below is a look at the healthcare status in the states of Madhya Pradesh (MP), Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. We’ve compared the data from 2005-6 and 2015-16 to track their progress or their lack off.
For each state, we’ve focused on six indicators – Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR), Under-5 Mortality Rate (U5MR), number of district hospitals, vacancy of specialists in district hospitals and number of doctors possessing recognised medical qualifications. These have been compared to the national average.