Evolving Consumer-Friendly Healthcare Systems in India: improving policies and practices

He started by expressing that the Right to Health is a basic human need and also an inalienable human right which has been recognized in a number of international and national legal instruments and enshrined in the constitution of India under Article 21. However, it seems that these commitments have not been translated into effective practices. PSM was of the opinion that if India is to achieve improvements vis-à-vis universal health coverage and come close to achieving the 2015 healthcare related targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), there is an urgent need to highlight policy-areas that require our attention and systematic action. This is opportune, in view of the fact that the Government is in the process of developing the blueprint of the 12 th Five Year Plan (2012-17) which not only focuses on curative care but also on prevention.