NCERT Solutions for Class 7 Social Science Civics Chapter 2: The Role of the Government in Health

Chapter 2 teaches the students about 'health' as an important issue among people of any nationality. There are both public and private avenues of healthcare. Despite the Constitution enshrining the right to health under the scope of Fundamental Rights, healthcare in India is not available to all. By reading this chapter, students will be able to visualise the expected role of government in health and required structures achieve equal provisioning of facilities for healthcare. In a democracy, it is expected of the government to work for people's welfare by providing basic facilities of education, health, employment, along with housing or the development of roads, electricity etc. To ensure proper diagnosis of diseases and their treatment, people need appropriate healthcare facilities which include the health centres, hospitals, laboratories for testing, ambulance services, blood banks, etc., which provide the necessary services that patients need.

There is a definite need for health workers, nurses, qualified doctors, and other health professionals to run such facilities. Besides all of this, we need the medicines and equipment that are necessary for treating patients. India has considerable experience and operational knowledge in running a public healthcare system, i.e. run by a government. This consists of a system of hospitals and health centres that can look after the health of a large section of its population. These health care centres and regional hospitals are scattered over hundreds of thousands of villages.

This system is linked together so that both rural and urban areas are covered to provide treatment to all kinds of healthcare issues – from common illnesses to serious ailments. There are health centres at the village level where there is usually a nurse and a village health worker. The health centres in the villages consist of a nurse and health worker.