India's rural dwellers let down by health system - 7 Sept 09

Although India boasts world-class private medical facilities in its cities, the story is completely different in rural areas.

Patients there walk for more than a dozen kilometre to reach hospitals.

In Andhra Pradesh, for example, there is only one hospital catering to 35,000 people.

Patients, some arriving in critical condition, often wait for long hours before they can see a doctor.

Al Jazeera's Prerna Suri reports