Financialisation and the Reshaping of Private Healthcare: A Case Study in India

The incursion of the financial sector into contemporary politics, economies and societies has been noted, yet financialisation remains under-explored in the sociological study of healthcare. Using the case of Maharashtra, India, and a qualitative research approach combining policy documents, witness seminars and in-depth interviews, we offer an account of how financialisation has been facilitated and enacted in this sector. We analyse the restructuring of a healthcare system in favour of corporate chains and calculative logics, with concomitant changes including closure and takeover of smaller hospitals and re-modelling of not-for-profit hospitals along corporate lines. We highlight ways in which such financialisation of healthcare, and its sidelining of health needs, has significance for care processes, professional dynamics, access to care and the parameters of regulatory systems.