A medical worker treats a patient suffering from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Max Smart Super Speciality Hospital in New Delhi, India, September 5, 2020. Photo: Reuters/Danish Siddiqui
Ours is a large country, and its healthcare needs are thus immense.
Advanced and specialised healthcare is still a privilege for rural India, which makes up about two-thirds of our population. Only 13% of the people in rural India have access to a primary health centre, 33% to a sub-center and 9.6% to a hospital.
The digital transformation of health services has been projected as an important process which will profoundly affect the various phases of healthcare delivery, including health promotion, prevention, primary care and specialised care.
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But India’s public health system is still in its developing stage and the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the flaws in our existing health system.
India has a shortage of an estimated 6,00,000 doctors and 20,00,000 nurses. India only has one government doctor for every 1,139 people. This has resulted in far more increased working hours for healthcare workers during the pandemic.
There are only 0.7 hospital beds per 1,000 people in India with variations across the states, as per World Bank estimations. This clearly shows us why we failed to admit and isolate every patient who tested positive for COVID-19, in hospital settings.
The enabler of services here is the government, both at the central and state levels. It must take immediate steps to improve health facilities.
When the pandemic first began gaining pace, we did not have well-equipped public health labs required for conducting RT-PCR tests for the diagnosis of COVID-19. Let alone district hospitals, major medical colleges both in government and the private sector did not have this facility.
This is one point which serves as a humbling reminder as to where we stand today.
The low doctor-patient ratio both in urban and rural areas is also a matter of concern as it affects quality care services.
Source: Science
