The findings of this study suggest that there are several policy
options that should be pursued in order to protect the poor
from the costs of inpatient care. Governments should invest in
improving the quality and access of public first-referral
hospitals. This should be done in a selective manner—with a
focus, for example, on rural areas and urban slum areas—in
order to promote a more equitable distribution of resources. In
fact, the Government of India is already making efforts to
improve access to quality health care in urban slum areas under
the National Urban Health Mission (2008–2012) (MOHFW
2008). Similarly, the National Rural Health Mission (2005–
2012) aims to improve health care in rural areas of 18 states
deemed to have the weakest infrastructure, in part by
strengthening rural hospitals (MOHFW 2005; Mudur 2005).
Given that these two schemes are still being implemented, it is
unclear how successful they will be.