21 May The fault line of poor health infrastructure(The Hindu, GS-2, Governance)
Context:- COVID-19 created havoc around the world. Countries with the poor health infrastructure are the one who hit the most, india is one of them. Due to issue in the health infrastructure, production capacity and health personnel this COVID-19 crises became the disaster.
- World bank data says that India had 85.7 physicians per 1,00,000 people in 2017
- 53 beds per 1,00,000 people
- 172.7 nurses and midwives per 1,00,000 people
- A stagnant expenditure:- 1% of GDP 2013-14 and 1.28% in 2017-18
- Health is a State subject in India
- State spending constitutes 68.6% of all the government health expenditure
- technical expertise are under central control
- States lack corresponding expert bodies such as the National Centre for Disease Control
- Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, States that have been consistently towards the bottom of the ranking in all years in spending on the health
- India has among the highest out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditures of all countries in the world,
- World Health Organization estimates that 62% of the total health expenditure in India is OOP
How we can fight from pandemic or way forward:-
- need for a coordinated national plan at the central level to fight the pandemic
- additional resources to be raised specifically for pandemic relief, such as PM CARES\
- need for a coordinated strategy on essential supplies of oxygen and vaccines is acute
- A central coordinated vaccine procurement and distribution
- creation of a “Pandemic Preparedness Unit” (PPU) by the central government
- streamline disease surveillance and reporting system
- coordinate public health management and policy responses across all levels of government;
- formulate policies to mitigate economic and social costs, and communicate effectively.
Plutus IAS Current Affair Team Member
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