With Covid-19 wave, the longstanding failures of India's under-supported healthcare system have been thrust into the spotlight.
India's public healthcare spending has consistently hovered around 1% of the GDP. Even the bare min. recommendation of 2.5% has not been realised.

On an avg. the state gov. in India have allocated 5.4% of their total budget towards public healthcare system.
A/C to WHO, India finishes second from the bottom amongst the 10 countries of its region for its %age spending of GDP on public health.

India's doctor-to-population ratio stands at 1:1,404 while the WHO recommends it to be 1:1000.
For the people in rural India who are completely dependent on gov. healthcare facilities, the doctor-to patient ratio is 1:10,926 as per the NHP, 2019.

India's nurse-to-population is 1.7:1000, well short of 3:1000 recommended by WHO.
India has 20 healthcare workers for 10,000 people, WHO recommends it to be 44.5:10,000.
Rural areas with nearly 71% of India's population have only 36% of workers. Also,there's divide b/w states.

A 2011 study estimated that amongst healthcare workers, allopathic doctors comprise 31% of the workforce, nurses and midwives 30%, pharmacists 11%, AYUSH practitioners 9%, and others 9%.

Interestingly, 20% of qualified health professionals are not active in the labour markets.

The uneven distribution of healthcare workers is seen in private and public health sector too- more than 80% doctors and 70% of nurses and midwives are employed in the private sector.

India's public hospitals have only 7,13,986 beds, including 35,699 intensive care units and 17,850 ventilators, a/c to CDDEP/Princeton study.
The same study shows that the private hospitals have 11,85,242 beds, 59,262 ICU beds and 29,631 ventilators.

When it comes to hospital bed availability, India has just 5 beds for 10,000 people. WHO'S recommended standard is 50:10,000. The Human Development Report, 2020 showed that out of 177 countries, India would rank 155th on bed availability.

Despite priv. hospitals accounting for 62% of hospital beds as well as ICU beds and almost 56% of ventilators,they are handling only around 10% of the workload during Covid.
Lack of alignment b/w public and priv.sectors has been clearly exposed during Corona testing & treatment.

For too long, India has allowed the private health sector to grow, with little regulation, and this means access is not equitable.
Public healthcare has not been a priority for successive gov. mainly because India's middle class didn't need it and relied on private sector.....

.....but Covid has driven home a message that this dependence was misplaced and a weakness.
Even during the time of a raging pandemic, profit is the guiding principle of the private sector and the GOI seems to be a silent partner in these scheme of things.

India's health system strengthening efforts can no longer afford to trudge along at its previous glacial pace.
When the dust has settled, let this crisis be starting point for an overhaul of India's healthcare system with more emphasis on public sector so that.....

.....it is accessible to "everyone"- which includes the socially disadvantaged, the economically challenged, and the systematically marginalized.