Corporate Hospitals in India and Representation of Women’s Medical Care

Abstract

By the turn of the century, in India, there had been a major expansion of corporate hospitals. They are a melting pot of global and local dynamics. As Habermas says, corporate entities share certain values, which shape other institutions, communities and the public mind as well. Corporate medical care means expensive medicine, individualisation of care, promotion of risk management, along with profit-oriented managerial techniques and healthism with minimal or no intervention from the government. This article traces how this emerging sector is shaping the notion of women’s medical care in the public mind. This is traced through the study of corporate health care institutional websites focusing on the services for women. Even though they make the clinical setting women friendly, they promote women’s health services selectively. Through various services, it normalises the usage of market-driven technology and the need for it.