Event

Pulitzer Hangout Explores India's Healthcare Crisis on Thursday, April 24

Thursday, April 24, 2014 - 06:30am to 07:30am EDT (GMT -0400)

The event will be live-streamed with Google Hangout on Air. Come back on April 24 at 4pm India time to watch the event. You may have to refresh your page to see the video.

RSVP to receive an email 15 minutes before the start time.

India’s hospitals are decaying. In impoverished regions of the country, the population outnumbers what the medical staffs can safely handle, and the equipment is either dated or broken.

Our discussion will focus on Gujarat, where a large government insurance plan for the poor has recently been implemented. The state is also home to the leading prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi. India's elections wrap up on May 12.

The insurance plan was initiated in 2012, and has become a popular answer for the question of how best to treat India’s large population of sick residents living below the poverty line. But critics say the plan is more political posture than practical solution and that much remains to be done to provide universal access to care.

The discussion will be between a Pulitzer Center grantee, Michael Hayden, and a doctor working in Gujarat, Dr. Hanif Lakdawala.

Hayden recently wrote a four-part series on India's healthcare crisis for The New York Times IndiaInk blog. Dr. Lakdawala is the director and managing trustee of Sanchetana, a nongovernmental organization devoted to providing health care to slum dwellers in urban areas of Gujarat. The discussion will be moderated by Peter Sawyer, health projects director at the Pulitzer Center.

This Pulitzer Hangout will be live-streamed on this page on April 24. Below are the details for a few time zones:

6:30am: New York
11:30am: London
12:30am: Geneva
4:00pm: India

We hope you will participate in the discussion by posting your thoughts and questions to Twitter, using the #indiahealth hashtag.