Public healthcare system must be a priority for India’s new government

India’s 1.4 billion citizens have a new government: the Bharatiya Janata Party managed to retain power in the 2024 elections but with far fewer seats, forcing a coalition. India’s citizens have signalled a shift in focus away from emotive issues such as religion to those affecting daily life. Healthcare received limited mention during the campaign despite India’s persistently poor health indicators.1 But the vote may partly reflect poor responses to covid, which laid bare the inadequacies of healthcare and need for investment in the public system2: people died because of insufficient oxygen and ventilators.3

India’s stark socioeconomic inequality—India’s richest 1% owned more than 40.5% of its total wealth in 2021, according to an Oxfam report4 —is reflected in its healthcare. About 70% of outpatient care and 60% of hospital care is provided in the private sector.5 High end interventions are largely available only privately—80-90% of organ transplantations are done in the private sector.6 But only a small number …