Report No. 507 (60/25.0/1)
Morbidity, Health Care
and
the Condition of the Aged
h
NSS 60tth round
(January – June 2004)
National Sample Survey Organisation
Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation
Government of India
March 2006
Preface
The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) has been collecting information on
various facets of the Indian economy through nationwide sample surveys to assist in socioeconomic planning and policy-making. The National Sample Survey (NSS) made its first attempt
to collect information on morbidity in the 7th round (October 1953 - March 1954). This maiden
attempt and the subsequent three surveys on the subject from the NSS 11th to 13th rounds (195658) were exploratory in nature and aimed to evolve an appropriate data collection method for
studying morbidity profile in India. However, a full-scale survey on morbidity was conducted for
the first time during the NSS 28th round (October 1973 - June 1974). Since then, the NSSO had
not undertaken any separate survey on morbidity and the collection of data on morbidity became
a part of the decennial surveys on social consumption carried out in the NSS 35th round (July
1980 - June 1981), 42nd round (July 1986 - June 1987) and 52nd round (July 1995 - June 1996).
A survey on ‘Morbidity and Health care’ was undertaken by the NSSO during the NSS
60th round (January - June 2004) at the request of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. This
subject was taken up along with the subjects of household consumer expenditure and
employment-unemployment. The present report is based on the enquiry on ‘Morbidity and Health
Care’ conducted during the NSS 60th round. The enquiry covered the curative aspects of the
general health care system in India, utilization of health care services provided by the public and
private sector and the expenditure incurred by the households for availing these services. In
addition, information on the condition and problems of...