| dc.description.abstract | The 11th Five-Year Plan of India emphasises the wider and better
coverage of services, such as primary healthcare for the majority of
population. For this purpose, various healthcare related programmes
have aimed at the vulnerable sections of the society traditionally using
social criteria like Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST)
populations. Although they are found to have marginally worse health
outcomes than the national average, they are far better than the one’s
for the poor on economic criteria. The present article examines the
coverage of basic primary healthcare services among the below the poverty
line (BPL) population in rural areas of India and provides direct
empirical evidence. Data used for the study was from a primary sample
survey of rural BPL households in six states of India. The results of the
survey showed that the coverage of primary healthcare services, such
as ante-natal care (ANC), institutional deliveries, and immunisation was
very low among the BPL population. Moreover, results of a comparison
of the SC and ST and non-SC and ST population within the sample
of the selected households showed that the former had a relatively
poorer coverage compared to the latter. The focus of the programme
for improving coverage of primary healthcare services should be on the
BPL population. If it is done, it would also result in the improvement
of coverage among the SC and ST population. Merely focusing on the SC and ST population will leave the poorest of the poor ignored and
unattended. | |
