- The pandemic has been extremely hard on the Indian healthcare infrastructure and therefore on the common citizens per se is well documented all through these testing times. The experts from the field of medicine and science were unanimous in mentioning that our stuttering healthcare infrastructure would be overwhelmed by the SARA-Cov-2 infection simply because of the humongous population density adorning the nation. Every single prediction came true in the form of destructions – both on lives as well as livelihoods – witnessed during the successive covid waves in the last year and a half. Of course, it always befuddles citizens how as a battered nation we overcome tremendous challenges largely based on knee-jerk reactions and not much planning.
PC: AEDT
- The nation’s history is replete with policy anecdotes, especially post-independence, where different socio-ideological strategies provided us with a blueprint to establish credentials to be counted amongst the developing countries. Even after a lapse of seven decades, this situation has not altered much as we continue to be recognized as a developing country though aspirations to be counted as one amongst the developed nation keeps propelling dreams. Note that successive governments have readily acknowledged the critical role of education and healthcare in furthering the cause of the nation. Sadly, all those talks of giving a fillip to these two crucial sectors have hardly received commensurate importance, funding, and focus to scale up to desired standards.
- The crumbling healthcare infrastructure was brutally exposed by the merciless virus rendering the medium grossly inadequate in meeting the basic needs of the infected lot. People dying for want of hospital beds, medical oxygen, life-saving medicines, and ventilators are gruesome visuals that will remain with us starkly reminding us of the harrowing times plaguing the nation. Despite concerted efforts to spruce up the healthcare infrastructure, citizens feeling confident about the services on offer on this front is still far away. What is most disappointing is the way insurance coverage was extended to deal with the burgeoning infection cases and in the absence of worthwhile public healthcare facilities dotting the landscape, both urban as well as rural.
PC:
- The majority of the population is dependent on public healthcare hardly surprises anyone. But the problem arises when thousands of infected are denied timely treatment for want of facilities. Here extending insurance coverage to people below the poverty line allowing them to get treated in forbiddingly expensive private healthcare facilities would have enabled the saving of precious lives. In the absence of insurance coverage, thousands of poor people were left to fend for themselves, and it was an extremely depressing scenario. Affordability question in the face of mounting survival challenges alone would deter the poor from approaching private healthcare facilities.
- This is where the Union Government should embark upon a single-minded mission to strengthen both the public healthcare sector and affordable insurance coverage acting as a cushion for poor and marginal citizens during times of crisis. Earmarking no less than 3-5 % of the GDP on healthcare should be seriously considered as the present budgetary allocation is a pittance in comparison to the population ratio. Many welfare schemes targeting the poor are already available. Amalgamating the existing schemes alongside options to seek treatment in private facilities by extending insurance coverage should go a long way in saving precious lives.
