Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Union Budget 2017-2018 stated that the government is committed to making structural reforms in medical education and its practice, and he also proposed amendments to drug rules to ensure medicines are available at reasonable rates. As things stand, the schism between the masses and medical care seems to be an ever-widening one.

Cases of medical negligence, lack of adequate resources to offer decent treatment, heavy commercialisation in the industry and, of late, a spike in the number of assaults on medical institutions have made people wary of the fraternity. Of course, incidents of patients misbehaving with medical personnel also make headlines frequently.