India’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been characterised as being amongst the most stringent, according to the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker. The country has been under a lockdown since March 24, and given India’s inadequate health infrastructure, a stringent response had to be undertaken early on to contain the spread of the virus. In recent weeks, the focus has increasingly shifted towards a gradual exit from the lockdown, and several economists have suggested ways of managing the significant economic fallout that individuals and businesses have faced as a result of the extended lockdown.
On May 12, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a Rs 20 lakh crore economic package equivalent to 10 per cent of GDP. While the package has targeted liquidity issues for MSMEs, due attention should also be given to the healthcare system, and the increasing strain it will face once the lockdown is lifted. There have been several examples of how public research laboratories, public institutions like the IITs, and private players including startups have risen to the challenge of working on COVID-19 testing kits, masks, alcohol-based sanitizers, personal protective equipment (PPEs) and ventilators, to overcome challenges of global supply chain disruptions and to cater to domestic needs. It would be prudent to anticipate that some of these needs are only going to increase in a post lockdown world, and with the spotlight currently on India’s indigenous innovative capabilities in the fight against the COVID-19 virus, the time has come to boost India’s healthcare infrastructure and push for greater technology deepening in the healthcare sector.
Focus on healthcare infrastructure and healthcare R&D to aid India’s economic recovery
To put India’s poor health infrastructure into perspective, consider this – according to a Brookings study by Prachi Singh, Shamika Ravi and Sikim Chakraborty published in March 2020 and using data from the National Health Profile-2019, the total number of hospital beds in the country was 7,13,986 which translates to 0.55 beds per 1000 population. Furthermore, the study also highlighted that 12 states that account for 70 per cent of India’s 1.3 billion population were found to have hospital beds per 1000 population below the national average of 0.55 beds. In terms of access and quality of health services, India was ranked 145 out of 195 countries in a Lancet study published in 2018, below countries like China (48), Sri Lanka (71) Bhutan (134) and Bangladesh (132).
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Source: The Indian Express
