Patient advocacy groups: Need and opportunity in India

With an increasing number of corporate hospitals, healthcare related issues, research trials and undue attention by media in India, there is a need to focus more on patient’s rights and protection. In India, multiple agencies like regulatory bodies, scientific review committees, ethics committees, NGOs, etc. work toward patient rights and protection. However, these agencies are inadequate to cater to the general issues related to patient’s rights. There’s a need to have a separate group of people who provide advocacy to the patient, or simply, a patient advocacy group which will work explicitly in these areas to increase transparency and credibility of healthcare system in India. This group will provide special attention to patient care and protection of rights from the planning stage rather than at the troubleshooting stage.