‘As a doctor and former health minister, I am more aware than anybody else of the corruption that is eating into the entrails of every aspect of governance, including the health system. Within days of assuming office I had remarked that the Medical Council of India is a corrupt organisation… There is corruption in the approval of drugs. The Central Drugs Standard Controls Organisation, which is supposed to oversee clinical trials, is another snake pit of vested interests.’
‘The private sector serves the economically well-off sections of society which places a premium on quality service. But it tolerates corrupt practices by doctors and nursing homes.’
‘In most parts of India, the government health sector is synonymous with overcrowding, apathy, filth and corruption. So they surrender to the corruption of the private sector’
‘When the Prime Minister gave me this responsibility, I was conscious that his objective of giving the people a world class and inexpensive public healthcare system would be impossible to realise without a thorough clean-up. Corruption has to be rooted out and there are no (two) views on that. ‘
– Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Health Minister
(in an email response to queries sent by Indian Express)