SINDHUDURG

Health

Last updated on 26 July 2025. Help us improve the information on this page by clicking on suggest edits or writing to us.

Sindhudurg’s healthcare landscape, like many other regions across India, is shaped by a mix of indigenous and Western medical practices. For centuries, indigenous knowledge and treatments provided by practitioners such as hakims and vaidyas have formed the foundation of healthcare in the region. This long-standing relationship between communities and their natural environment played a key role in shaping the district’s early medical traditions. Over time, its landscape has gradually evolved with the introduction and expansion of more specialized medical services.

Healthcare Infrastructure

Similar to other regions in India, Sindhudurg’s healthcare infrastructure follows a multi-tiered system that involves both public and private sectors. The public healthcare system is structured into primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. Primary care is provided through Sub Centres and Primary Health Centres (PHCs), secondary care is managed by Community Health Centres (CHCs) and Sub-District hospitals, while tertiary care, the highest level, is delivered through Medical Colleges and District Hospitals. 

Clinics in Sindhudurg. Source: OpenStreetMaps (Sept. 2025)
Hospitals in Sindhudurg. Source: OpenStreetMaps (Sept. 2025)

Supporting this structure is a network of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) who, as described by the National Health Mission, serve as “an interface between the community and the public health system.” Over time, this multi-layered healthcare model has been continuously shaped and refined by national healthcare policies and reforms to improve universal health coverage across regions.

According to the colonial District Gazetteer (1880), Sindhudurg had three hospitals and one dispensary by 1877. It is noted that “no dispensaries are known to have been established till 1880,” highlighting a period of limited development in medical services by public authorities at the time. However, something peculiar that is mentioned is that essential medicines such as quinine and chloroform were often distributed through local constables (faujidars) and their deputies, who sold them in outlying villages to address basic health needs.

Over the years, Sindhudurg’s formal healthcare network has grown gradually from its limited colonial foundations to include both public and private institutions. Today, the district’s larger facilities include the main government district hospital and the SSPM Medical College and Lifetime Hospital, a private multispecialty hospital established in 2017 by a regional politician.

Government Medical College and Hospital, Sindhudurg. (Source: CKA Archives)
Government Medical College and Hospital, Sindhudurg.

Graphs

Healthcare Facilities and Services

Morbidity and Mortality

Maternal and Newborn Health

Family Planning

Immunization

Nutrition

Sources

J.M. Campbell. 1880. Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Ratnagiri and Savantvadi, Vol. X. The Government Central Press.

M Choksi, B. Patil et al. 2016. Health systems in India.Vol 36 (Suppl 3). Journal of Perinatology.https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC514…

National Health Mission (NHM). "About Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA)." National Health Mission, India.https://nhm.gov.in/index1.php?lang=1&level=1…

Last updated on 26 July 2025. Help us improve the information on this page by clicking on suggest edits or writing to us.