In the shadow of recent proposals for universal healthcare in India, discussions regarding the impact of private medical care on Indians' health have taken on a greater urgency. However, our collective attempts to evaluate the effects of India's growing private medical sector have been seriously hampered due to a lack of reliable or comprehensive data regarding (i) the size of the private healthcare sector, and (ii) its patterns of growth, particularly since the 1980s. As we formulate and assess practical strategies for a sustainable healthcare future for India in the absence of reliable statistical data, historians' tools for understanding the recent career of healthcare in the country merit consideration.