Assessment of Healthcare Infrastructure Standards in Manipur: Evaluating Facilities, Accessibility, and Quality of Services

Abstract

Healthcare is a global necessity and human capital and is largely shaped by genetic, environmental and social factors. This study is planned to evaluate the availability and accessibility of the health care services in both the public and private sectors in Manipur. The study focuses on the increasing tendency of private sector medical services in Manipur and its performance in curative care as well as examines the inequity in healthcare facility distribution based on socioeconomic status. The method used in this research depends on secondary data collected from government documents, articles and online sources. These findings were used to infer the geographical distribution of the healthcare services and the patterns of the growth of the health sector. The study shows that through improved facilities, private hospitals have gained popularity but this comes at a cost that is expensive forcing the economically challenged group to be locked out. While public hospital is cheaper, funding of the services lags behind in meeting the demands of the population and putting up better services. To sum up, it is critically important to note the black hole that still exists between the private and public healthcare sector to reform policies in such a way that would allow quality care for all the people of Manipur.