Over the past 60 years, India has undergone immense political, economic, and social changes, which have led to its emergence as a global economic power and regional military power. During this period, the population has surged, growing from 233 million to 1.2 billion people, making India the second most populous nation in the world. In the course of this change, there have been key indicators of medical progress, such as rising life expectancy and a falling infant mortality rate. Another striking indicator, specifically in the area of medical technology, is the fact that India in 2006 was a net exporter of HIV medications to dozens of countries around the globe, earning a reputation as the pharmacist of the developing world. Although many books and papers have been written about the emergence of the country's economy and military, little has been written on how it has been able to achieve its leadership in medical technology. This thesis, 'A History of Medical Technology in Postcolonial India: 1947-1991', is the first major study examining the development of medical technology in India in the period directly following colonial rule. The period covered in this research is crucial because it highlights the evolution and impact of medical technology in postcolonial India, leading up to, but excluding, the free-market reforms enacted by the Indian government in 1991. This thesis will also illustrate the impact diffusion had on the evolution of medical technology. Most importantly, this thesis introduces a new concept appropriate to understanding India's trajectory in this period: the medical technology complex. It will be shown that this complex consists of different groups working toward an aligned objective. It is not the point of this thesis to characterize the medical technology complex in a positive light or a negative one. Its primary concern is to demonstrate through historical evidence that this construct grew throughout the twentieth century and still exists today.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:713984 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Kachnowski, Stanislaw |
| Contributors | Harrison, Mark |
| Publisher | University of Oxford |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:a98170a0-f494-401e-9ad3-4483e89f6359 |
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