Friday Jan 20 2012

Today as I was searching through Google looking for an article to analyze i came across some interesting facts about India. In lieu of the lesson that we had last week showing us where we should be staying I got curious as to the history of India and what some of the standards of living are right now in India. I was led to various websites in pursuit of a greater understanding of the area and the websites I came across ranged from www.indiaplease.in to wikipedia. I really enjoyed reading the wikipedia article surrounding the demographics of Coimbatore. Here is an excerpt from that article...

As per the 2001 census,[46] Coimbatore had a population of 1,250,446 within Municipal Corporation limits.[1][2][3] The 2011 census data for post-expansion city limits is not available and only the population of urban agglomeration is available - 2,151,466.[4] In the urban agglomeration, males constitute 50.08% of the population and females 49.92%. Coimbatore has an average literacy rate of 89.23%, higher than the national average of 74.04%. Male literacy is 93.17% and female literacy is 85.3% with 8.9% of the population under 6 years of age. The Sex ratio was 964 females per 1000 males.[4] In 2005, the crime rate in the city was 265.9 per 100,000 people, accounting for 1.2% of all crimes reported in major cities in India. It ranked 21st among 35 major cities in India in the incidence of crimes.[47] In 2011, the population density in the city was 10,052 per km² (26,035 per mi²).[8]

The native language spoken in the Coimbatore city is mainly Kongu Tamil, a dialect of Tamil language. The city's population is predominantly Hindu, along with a sizable Muslim[48] population. Christians, Sikhs and Jains are also present in small numbers.[2][49][50] Coimbatore also has a large number of Malayalis,[51][52][53] mainly from Palakkad, Telugus[54] and North Indians,[55] mainly Gujaratis,[56] who are engaged in trade and commerce. During the 1970s the city witnessed a population explosion as a result of migration fueled by increased economic growth and job opportunities.[45][57] Around 33% of the city's population lives in slums.[31]

Some things that stand out to me from this article are first the relativity small size of the city of Coimbatore. As a point of reference, metropolitan Salt Lake City has a population of 1,124,000 people. New Delhi on the other hand has a population of more than 13 million, that’s more comparable to an LA or a Houston/Dallas TX conglomerate. The populations are outstanding.

Wikipedia also had an entire section on the Healthcare in Coimbatore. I will paste it at continuation but in the mean time it is interesting to note that the nearest large city to where we live, Salt Lake City is comparable in size and it will be interesting to compare and contrast the two healthcare systems that the cities have in place as well.

The size of the Coimbatore health care industry has been estimated as 1500 Crore (150 million) in 2010.[150] There are nearly 750 hospitals in and around Coimbatore with a capacity of 5000 beds.[151] The first health care centre in the city was started in 1909. In 1969, it was upgraded to Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH). It is a government run hospital with a bed strength of 1020 and provides free health care.[152] Including the CMCH, corporation maintains 16 dispensaries and 2 maternity homes.[31] The city also has many large multi-facility private hospitals like the PSG Hospitals, Kovai Medical Center and Hospital(KMCH), KG Hospital, Coimbatore Kidney Centre, G. Kuppuswamy Naidu Memorial Hospital, Sri Ramakrishna Hospital, Sheela Hospital, Kongunad Hospital, Gem Hospital, Ganga Hospital, Aravind Eye Hospital, Sankara Netralaya,Lotus Eye Hospital, Ashwin hospital, Vikram ENT hospital, Coimbatore Cancer Foundation, G.P.Hospital, Diabetes Care and Research Centre. The city is also a major centre for medical tourism.[150][153][154] The city remains the preferred healthcare destination for people from nearby districts and also from the neighbouring state of Kerala.[155]

I’m not sure but I would imagine that the number of Beds here in Salt Lake is fewer than what Coimbatore has. I feel that as I focus more and more on my topic I want to focus on the practice and methods practice in healthcare in India.