AA Edit | Invest in healthcare, take lesson from Kerala book

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called on the industry to take bold decisions and make an opportunity of the challenges pandemic Covid-19 presents.

It’s indeed the need of the hour. Little purpose is served by looking at the challenges with incredulity; taking them on is the best option. But businesses have their own logic and they would grab the opportunities, especially if there is a conducive environment.

Meanwhile, the government Mr Modi heads must also get the gist of what he told the industry: Seize the opportunity and take bold decisions. The spiralling number of infections demands that the government rework the way it treats one of the most critical areas of state activity: Healthcare.

Reports emanating from various parts of the country are disquieting. There are several instances of healthcare workers contracting Covid and going down. Close to 100 doctors have tested positive for the infection in Hyderabad alone.

Hospitals are being overwhelmed in most cities, especially in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, the engines of our economy. Things are not going to improve given the shape of the Covid curve is likely to take.

The increasing pressure on hospitals and the healthcare workers is a sad commentary on the priorities successive governments have placed on augmenting healthcare infrastructure. India spends only 3.6 per cent of the gross domestic product on healthcare, which is low even by the standards of peers.

The budgetary allocation for the ministry of health and family welfare has seen significant improvement in the last few years and the budget for 2020-21 has allocated Rs 67,112 crores.

But the fact is that only a fraction of it goes into capital expenditure while the allocation for Ayushman Bharat, the health insurance scheme, sees its share substantially increased. The net effect is that we have inadequate infrastructure and unhappy personnel.

It’s time the government realised that banging the plates, lighting lamps and showering flower petals alone cannot make the corona warrior satisfied and India win the war.

It is better infrastructure, sufficient supply of personal protective equipment and medicine, paramedical support and, last but not the least, timely payment of salaries that will keep them charged.

If the Prime Minister needs a cue, then the Supreme Court has given one on Friday while hearing a petition on delay or non-payment of salaries.

“You need to do more,” the court has told the government. The apex court advised the government to travel the extra mile and channel some extra money to address the grievances of the doctors. No nation can win a war by keeping its warriors dissatisfied, it cautioned the government.

True, we need a robust industry with a vibrant supply chain mechanism post Covid but the primary task is that we survive and emerge victorious in the war against the virus. It pays to invest in healthcare, and one can take the success of Kerala with a strong structure starting from the primary health centre, as an example.

Time the government took bold decisions and fortified our health infrastructure by investing more.