Health Care Challenges in Kerala

Kerala has achieved better health standards comparable to the developed nations in the world. Our health indicators like Infant Mortality Rate, Maternal Mortality,Birth Rate, Death Rate, Life Expectancy, etc.are far better than other states in India and are
comparable to the developed nations in the world. Kerala’s achievements in health with lowper capita income are termed as “Kerala model of Health”. Higher level of education,especially female education,increased health consciousness,political commitment, etc. contributed to the high achievements in health. But the famous Kerala model of health faced crisis after the 1980s. The decay of the public sector increased the growth of the private sector in Kerala. The present paper attempts to study the various healthcare challenges in Kerala. Commodification and privatization of health care increased the health care cost in Kerala. The incidence of communicable, noncommunicable,life style and chronic diseases created problems in our health system. The high out-of-pocket expenditure on health leads to poverty and indebtedness.