Behaviour of the private sector in the health market of Bombay

In Bombay, the private sector plays a major role in providing medical care to all strata of society and these services are well utilized by everyone. Of late there have been criticisms about the quality of private medical care and there is a need for a proper policy on the development and regulation of private sector health services. This paper contributes to this by unravelling the inadequacies in the medical infrastructure and manpower, and highlighting the unethical medical practice rampant in private practice. The paper also assesses the existing regulatory mechanisms and their inability to control the quality of private sector medical care. After exposing the behaviour of the private sector, the paper suggests a holistic policy approach to increase and strengthen the public sector health services in poor areas, to develop norms to maintain quality in medical infrastructure and manpower, and to discipline unethical professional behaviour.