A heterogeneous private sector dominates healthcare provision in many middle-income countries. In India, the contemporary period has seen this sector undergo corporatisation processes characterised by emergence of large private hospitals and the takeover of medium-sized and charitable hospitals by corporate entities. Little is known about the operations of these private providers and the effects on healthcare professions as employment shifts from practitioner-owned small and medium hospitals to larger corporate settings. This article uses data from a mixed-methods study in two large cities in Maharashtra, India, to consider the implications of these contemporary changes for the medical profession. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with 43 respondents who have detailed knowledge of healthcare in Maharashtra and from a witness seminar on the topic of transformation in Maharashtra’s healthcare system. Transcripts from the interviews and witness seminar were analysed thematically through a combination of deductive and inductive approaches. Our findings point to a restructuring of medical practice in Maharashtra as training shifts towards private education and employment to those corporate hospitals. The latter is fuelled by substantial personal indebtedness, dwindling appeal of government employment, reduced opportunities to work in smaller private facilities and the perceived benefits of work in larger providers. We describe a ‘reprofessionalisation’ of medicine encompassing changes in employment relations, performance targets and constraints placed on professional autonomy within the private healthcare sector that is accompanied by trends in cost inflation, medical malpractice, and distrust in doctor-patient relationships. The accompanying ‘restratification’ within this part of the profession affords prestige and influence to ‘star doctors’ while eroding the status and opportunity for young and early career doctors. The research raises important questions about the role that government and medical professionals’ bodies can, and should, play in contemporary transformation of private healthcare and the implications of these trends for health systems more broadly.

In the current context of more expansive role for private sector in health systems, especially in universal health coverage (UHC), its regulation has gained importance in health policy discourse. This article provides an overview of the existing regulatory mechanisms and their implementation in India, the enormity of the regulatory challenges raised by the nature of the private health care sector here and the available alternatives.

Corporate hospitals are becoming a significant presence within the ‘health care’ industry in India. There is strong advocacy and promotion by the industry, and the government, of the idea that health care infrastructure should not just be viewed as a social good but also as a viable economic venture with productivity. Yet, the discourse on privatisation, on the public–private divide in health systems does not pay attention to the spread of corporate sector activities and corporate financing in health care; to the increasing commercialisation of health services. This brief note highlights some recent trends and features of the hospitals sector of the ‘health care industry’ in India. There is a need to document and analyse the practices and behaviour of the hospital industry, and examine the impact of these changes for the public health systems, for policy and planning in public health, from a critical public health perspective.

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Technology assessment and regulatory strategies have been proffered as ways of addressing concerns and problems arising from availability of certain medical technologies. Regulation especially is invoked as a remedy that can deliver several objectives—as a way of assuring quality care; as a way of preventing medical malpractice and negligence; as a remedy for market failure; as a way of improving performance and efficiency; and as a way of even achieving national health objectives or wider social goals such as equity and accountability. It is assumed that the key issues in regulation are its design and having proper monitoring and enforcement.  The article reviews the regulations instituted to address issues arising from the use of reproductive technologies. Through such analysis, the article seeks to draw attention to the field of technology assessment and regulation in general as applicable to biomedical technologies, in a context of overall commercialisation of medical and health care.