Strengthening of Health Care systems

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Pandemics and civilizations have been moving concurrently since recorded history. It had already come across several endemics and pandemics such as measles, cholera, dengue, smallpox, including the ongoing Covid 19. Our country began with a glorious tradition of public health, as seen in the references to the descriptions of Indus valley civilization which mention 'Arogya' as reflecting 'holistic well being'.       

The pandemic has exposed the inadequacy of private healthcare and importance of spending and strengthening public healthcare. The Government, in the long term will have to re-evaluate  and drastically improve upon the funding in public healthcare and infrastructure.  

Mental health is another serious challenge on the rise that India's public healthcare is unprepared to tackle. Nationwide shutdown disrupted the lives of resulting in mass unemployment and high levels of distress among significant section of people. Adding to seriousness, modern psychiatric facilities are only available in the cities.   

There are few areas which clearly emerged as areas of improvement for the country's healthcare system. 

Firstly, the preparedness to handle acute cases. There is a shortage of ICU equipment and while many manufacturers struggle to fill the gap, an area which we need to focus on. With indigenous manufacturing being a focus area for the Government, healthcare manufacturing should get priority. 

Secondly, there are about 80,000 nursing homes in the country who were caught by surprise due to pandemic, unprepared for the financial distress they were exposed to. We must now work on ensuring that these players build a model of financial sustainability. 

Finally, the pandemic exposed the significant demand-supply imbalance which has been a chronic issue in the Indian healthcare system. This needs to be addressed with a series of  structural measures to boost the healthcare sector. The Healthcare sector is one of national priority on two fronts- one, it contributes to the GDP, job creation, services export and forex earnings of the country and second, it keeps the citizens healthy, so that they form productive workforce for other sectors. As a sector that contributes at least five direct jobs and several folds indirect jobs for every bed, this sector must be supported, nurtured and encouraged to expand and make a real difference to the country's economy and employment.     

One of the silver linings about this whole situation has been that health as a subject has got the priority and attention it deserves, and it took center-stage in the national narrative for months. Robotics which promoted social distancing will make a comeback. Virtual consultations by healthcare professionals will become the mainstream post pandemic delivery model. Insurance and customer service, both will emerge as main factors. Epidemic preparedness must enter our policy and health delivery language.  

A majority of funding also calls primarily focused on Molecular research, drug discovery and vaccine development, even though our country lacks the ecosystem to deliver any of these. Our country's expertise is in reverse engineering cheaper solutions.  

To prepare for a future pandemic, we should build a specific 'Ring fenced' funding provision to support the ecosystem for innovative healthcare devices. Knowing well the high percentage of Indians living in the rural areas, primary care is the most important need for the population. While meeting the healthcare needs of our population, we must also build strategic reserves of critical medical equipment like ventilators, masks and continuous positive air pressures devices.  Some of these are currently being imported.    

With all the talent available in our country, we can make best use of our innovative thinking and set up a thriving start up culture in health care. It now remains for our political leadership to strategise, motivate and inspire our talent to go ahead and claim our rightful place on the world stage.        


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