Colonial Medical Care in North India

Description

Exploring the social history of hospitals through the experiences of Indian troops and women, this book examines how medical care was introduced, expanded, and funded by the colonial state in north India. It argues that, intent on limiting medical expenditure, the colonial state left a legacy of poor medical provision, regional disparities, neglect of rural patients, and over-reliance on the private and voluntary sectors—all issues with contemporary resonance in India. Using a wide variety of government archives, private papers, newspapers, and non-official publications, Sehrawat shows how the colonial state transplanted British forms of medical philanthropy in India as part of its liberal project to ‘improve’ colonial subjects. She also analyses how ideologies of rule were challenged by emerging discourses of anti-colonial nationalism and by professional groups. In the process, this book brings together many neglected themes—the political economy of health, imperial history and the history of hospitals in India, and the importance of gender and ethnicity in shaping access to medical care in India.