Government health policy has thus far largely encouraged private-sector expansion in conjunction with well designed but limited public health programmes.<ref name="Palgrave">{{cite book |last1=Britnell |first1=Mark |title=In Search of the Perfect Health System |date=2015 |publisher=Palgrave |isbn=978-1-137-49661-4 |location=London |page=60}}</ref>

As of 2013, the number of trained medical practitioners in the country was as high as 1.4 million, including 0.7 million graduate allopaths.<ref name=":127"/> Yet, India has failed to reach its [[Millennium Development Goals]] related to health.<ref name=":105">{{cite journal|last1=Dutta|first1=Sabitri|last2=Lahiri|first2=Kausik|date=2015-07-01|title=Is provision of healthcare sufficient to ensure better access? An exploration of the scope for public-private partnership in India|journal=International Journal of Health Policy and Management|volume=4|issue=7|pages=467–474|doi=10.15171/ijhpm.2015.77|pmid=26188811|pmc=4493587}}</ref> Developed countries have been able to adapt to the changing needs of a growing elderly population faster than India and other countries with similar socioeconomic conditions and have developed models for over seventy years to address these needs, through more inclusive care and health insurance. The definition of 'access is the ability to receive services of a certain quality at a specific cost and convenience.<ref name=":87"/> The [[Health care|healthcare]] system of India is lacking in three factors related to access to healthcare: provision, [[utilization management|utilization]], and attainment.<ref name=":105"/> Provision, or the supply of healthcare facilities, can lead to utilization, and finally attainment of good health. However, there currently exists a huge gap between these factors, leading to a collapsed system with insufficient access to healthcare.<ref name=":105"/> Differential distributions of services, power, and resources have resulted in inequalities in healthcare access.<ref name=":87"/> Access and entry into hospitals depends on gender, [[socioeconomic status]], education, wealth, and location of residence (urban versus rural).<ref name=":87"/> Furthermore, inequalities in financing healthcare and distance from healthcare facilities are barriers to access.<ref name=":87"/> Additionally, there is a lack of sufficient [[infrastructure]] in areas with high concentrations of poor individuals.<ref name=":105"/> Large numbers of [[tribe]]s and ex-[[Untouchable (social system)|untouchables]] that live in isolated and dispersed areas often have low numbers of professionals.<ref name=":145">{{cite journal|last1=De Costa|first1=Ayesha|last2=Al-Muniri|first2=Abdullah|last3=Diwan|first3=Vinod K.|last4=Eriksson|first4=Bo|title=Where are healthcare providers? Exploring relationships between context and human resources for health Madhya Pradesh province, India|journal=Health Policy|volume=93|issue=1|pages=41–47|doi=10.1016/j.healthpol.2009.03.015|pmid=19559495|year=2009}}</ref> Finally, health services may have long wait times or consider ailments as not serious enough to treat.<ref name=":105"/> Those with the greatest need often do not have access to healthcare.<ref name=":87"/>

India is considering to set up a National eHealth Authority (NeHA) for standardisation, storage and exchange of electronic health records of patients as part of the government's [[Digital India]] programme. The authority, to be set up by an Act of Parliament will work on the integration of multiple health IT systems in a way that ensures security, confidentiality and privacy of patient data. A centralised electronic health record repository of all citizens which is the ultimate goal of the authority will ensure that the health history and status of all patients would always be available to all health institutions. Union Health Ministry has circulated a concept note for the setting up of '''NeHa''', inviting comments from stakeholders.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/digital-india-programme-govt-mulls-setting-up-ehealth-authority/|title=Digital India programme: Govt mulls setting up eHealth Authority|date=2015-04-11|work=The Indian Express|access-date=2017-10-12|language=en-US}}</ref>

India has set up a National Telemedicine Taskforce by the Health Ministry of India, in 2005, paved way for the success of various projects like the ICMR-AROGYASREE, NeHA and VRCs. Telemedicine also helps family physicians by giving them easy access to speciality doctors and helping them in close monitoring of patients. Different types of telemedicine services like store and forward, real-time and remote or self-monitoring provides various educational, healthcare delivery and management, disease screening and disaster management services all over the globe. Even though telemedicine cannot be a solution to all the problems, it can surely help decrease the burden of the healthcare system to a large extent.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Telemedicine in India: Where do we stand? |year=2019 |pmc=6618173 |last1=Chellaiyan |first1=V. G. |last2=Nirupama |first2=A. Y. |last3=Taneja |first3=N. |journal=Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care |volume=8 |issue=6 |pages=1872–1876 |doi=10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_264_19 |pmid=31334148 |doi-access=free }}</ref>