Women in India don’t access health care as much as men

Women in India face aren’t accessing health care as much as men, according to a new analysis. Researchers looked at more than 2.3 million visits in 2016 at a major hospital in the capital city of New Delhi and found that female patients made up 37% of the visits. Women younger than 30 and older than 60 were also almost half as likely to visit the hospital compared to men in the same age groups. The authors conclude that “there is extensive gender discrimination in healthcare access,” and write that although the differences could be due to differences in how men and women are afflicted with disease, this is unlikely because the data included all the departments of a multispecialty hospital and “any gender predilection would get balanced across specialties.” The scientists say the findings should prompt government action to address the disparity.