Voices from the Top of the Pile: Elites Perceptions on Rural Public Health Care Management in Karnataka State – South India

Introduction: Health is one of the prime concerns of mankind, since his emergences on the earth. The issue of rural health has drawn increasing attention both at the national and international level today because of elites role in health policies. In India, there is a debate on the expected role of the elites in case of new health policies. Objective: The major objective of this paper is to elicit the elite's perception on various issues of rural health care system in Karnataka – South India. Methodology: Primary data were collected from the selected 50 elites from cross-section of the society using structured interview technique. Result: It is found that elites have criticised focusing on pitiable health infrastructure and health behaviour and its impact on physical, mental, social, moral and spiritual health of the rural folks. It is also found that elites opined that poor rural health infrastructure and the various socio-cultural barriers are the main hurdles in implementing modern medial health care facilities in the rural parts. Next, we learned that there must be a focus on improving the health status of the rural people stressing promotion of the scientific usage of traditional medicinal system and rapid improvement in rural health infrastructure.