Lessons from ‘Management of Healthcare in India’

Healthcare debates in India often revolve around familiar questions: Do we have enough doctors? Are there enough hospital beds? Is access to treatment improving? ‘Management of Healthcare in India: Need for a Paradigm Shift’, edited by Tilak Shankar, invites readers to ask a different question altogether: Are India’s healthcare systems being managed well enough to translate medical advances into better health outcomes?

The book is anchored in the idea that “modern medicine should be matched by modern management.” It develops this premise by examining the architecture of India’s healthcare system, introducing readers to the country’s three-tier public healthcare structure before tracing its evolution through landmark committees, policy initiatives and institutional reforms. From the Bhore, Mudaliar and Srivastava Committees to more recent initiatives such as the National Rural Health Mission, Ayushman Bharat, Health and Wellness Centres and Jan Aushadhi Kendras, the book charts the milestones that have shaped healthcare delivery in India. It provides the context for understanding how India’s health system has evolved and why effective management has become integral to its future.

Edited by Tilak Shankar, former director of AF Ferguson & Co. and CEO of Management Solutions and featuring contributions from experts in public health, hospital administration, finance, technology and policy, the volume argues that healthcare management deserves the same attention as clinical practice.

Understanding healthcare as a system

One of the book’s strengths is the way it situates healthcare within a broader ecosystem rather than limiting it to hospitals and treatment. Throughout the volume, the contributors argue that clinical excellence alone cannot compensate for weak governance, fragmented planning, poor financing or inefficient administration.

The discussions move between public policy, institutional development and healthcare delivery, illustrating how organisational decisions influence patient outcomes.

The book also reminds readers that disease does not differentiate between social layers. Yet the systems through which people receive care often do. It is this gap between disease and access that underscores the book’s repeated call for stronger, more equitable and better-managed healthcare systems.

India’s healthcare landscape

The book is notable for the breadth of subjects it covers. It serves not only as an introduction to healthcare management but also as an overview of India’s healthcare ecosystem.

It explores the origins of major healthcare institutions and policies, documents how healthcare has developed across different States, and examines the leadership that shaped many of these institutions. These sections place contemporary healthcare within a larger historical and administrative context, making the book useful both as a management text and as a reference on the evolution of India’s health system.

The chapters move comfortably across public healthcare, corporate hospitals, charitable institutions and non-profit organisations. The discussions on tribal healthcare and chapters about institutions like the Sundaram Medical Foundation broaden the narrative, illustrating how healthcare management must respond to varied institutional and community contexts rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all approach.

Management beyond administration

Perhaps the book’s greatest contribution is demonstrating the breadth of healthcare management itself.

Management is presented not merely as budgeting or administration but as a discipline encompassing leadership, management science, quality assurance, human resource management, healthcare financing, marketing, information systems, artificial intelligence, support services and organisational strategy.

Universal health coverage is another recurring theme, the contributors discuss it within the broader context of governance, institutional capacity, accessibility and sustainable healthcare delivery.

The emphasis throughout is that better healthcare does not necessarily depend only on increasing expenditure. It also depends on improving how existing resources are organised, coordinated and utilised.

Making complex ideas accessible

Healthcare management often relies on technical concepts that can appear intimidating to readers unfamiliar with the discipline. One of the book’s strengths is the way it simplifies these ideas through extensive use of diagrams, tables, figures and flowcharts.

Even concepts such as queueing theory, used to understand patient flow and waiting times in large corporate hospitals, are explained visually and broken down into understandable components. These illustrations make the volume accessible to students, clinicians, administrators and policymakers alike.

The contributors also rely heavily on case studies, grounding management concepts in practical examples.

Healthcare in the digital age

The volume also reflects on how healthcare itself is changing.

Among its more engaging discussions is the role of social media in healthcare. The contributors examine how patients increasingly use them to voice concerns, share experiences and hold healthcare providers accountable. The book acknowledges that trust, transparency and public engagement have become important dimensions of healthcare management.

The chapters on artificial intelligence similarly position technology as an enabler of better healthcare systems rather than an end in itself. AI is discussed alongside information systems, planning and decision-making, reinforcing the book’s broader emphasis on integrating technology into effective organisational structures.

Building resilient healthcare systems

The final chapters turn their attention to the future, focusing on resilient healthcare systems capable of responding to changing disease patterns, demographic transitions and future public health challenges.

Rather than framing resilience only in terms of emergency preparedness, the book argues that resilient systems are built through leadership, governance, institutional capacity, technological integration and continuous organisational learning.

The book brings together diverse disciplines that are often discussed separately. Public health, hospital management, leadership, finance, technology, policy and organisational behaviour are woven into a coherent narrative that encourages readers to see healthcare as a complex system rather than merely a collection of medical services.

At the same time, the book’s strong managerial focus creates opportunities for future conversations beyond its own scope. Its systems approach could provide a valuable foundation for engaging more deeply with frameworks centred on equity, lived experience and justice. It prompts further reflection on how healthcare management might intersect with the social model of disability, disability justice and other approaches that examine how structural, social and economic barriers influence health outcomes across diverse disease conditions. These perspectives are not the focus of the book, but they could productively extend the discussion it initiates.

Ultimately, Management of Healthcare in India: Need for a Paradigm Shift is more than a handbook on hospital administration. It is a wide-ranging survey of India’s healthcare ecosystem, bringing together its history, institutions, leadership, management practices and future challenges in a single volume. Combining historical context, policy analysis, management theory, practical case studies and clear visual explanations, it serves both as a reference work and as an invitation to rethink what makes healthcare systems function effectively.