Behaviour of the private sector in the health market of Bombay

In Bombay, the private sector plays a major role in providingmedical care to all strata of society and these services arewell utilized by everyone. Of late there have been criticismsabout the quality of private medical care and there is a needfor a proper policy on the development and regulation of privatesector health services. This paper contributes to this by unravellingthe inadequacies in the medical infrastructure and manpower,and highlighting the unethical medical practice rampant in privatepractice. The paper also assesses the existing regulatory mechanismsand their inability to control the quality of private sectormedical care. After exposing the behaviour of the private sector,the paper suggests a holistic policy approach to increase andstrengthen the public sector health services in poor areas,to develop norms to maintain quality in medical infrastructureand manpower, and to discipline unethical professional behaviour.