Rising Mortality Rate in Andhra Pradesh: Towards a demystification

This is an effort at explaining the reasons and rationale behind the rising mortality rate (CDR) in the South Indian State – Andhra Pradesh. Although the state’s performance in socio-economic sphere seems to be not that impressive, its performance in demographic transition during the last two decades is undoubtedly distinct, especially among Indian states. In addition, Andhra Pradesh has also been witnessing mushrooming of private medical care centres ranging from tiny clinics to corporate hospitals, especially during last two decades. Most notable ones are the state initiatives of Emergency Medical Service (EMS) – popularly known in the state as ‘108’ services, witnessing evolving pre-hospital care integrated with definite health care and Rajiv Aryogyasri (RAS), a health insurance scheme to cover the catastrophic health expenditure of BPL families.