Is India ready for another public health wave?

World Health Organization (WHO) define, health as the attainment of physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity and Public health is defined as the science of protecting and improving the health of people and their communities. This can be done by promoting healthy lifestyles, researching disease and injury prevention, and detecting, preventing and responding to infectious diseases. The main purposes of public health comprise of management of critical matters related to health; determining research agenda and communication of valuable knowledge; setting standards and promoting and observing their enactment; enunciating ethical- and evidence-based policy alternatives; and monitoring the health situation and set up new health trends.

The encumbrance of several chronic and infectious diseases poses challenges for all public health systems, which needs pioneering, and initiatives approaches to improve the health of the population effectively. Continuing discriminations in healthcare are of major concern because of education, awareness, income, demographical distribution and multimorbidity. Imminent pandemics of influenza and emerging infections, as of COVID -19 that are mostly zoonotic require special attention and rapid response. In 2015, India and other 194 countries of the world agreed on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) covering all aspects of human development. One relates specifically to health and well-being, while many other goals too indirectly affect and address facets of public health.

Based on an economic survey, it is observed that public health investment in India should increase to 2.5-3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) from around one per cent. The survey also shows that the expenditure on health went up from 1.4 per cent of the GDP to 1.5 per cent and 1.8 per cent in the years 2018-2019, 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 respectively. Even though, a ‘COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness Package’ of Rs 15,000 crore had to be provided. This suggests that the healthcare system has to be improved and more investment is needed. The National Health Policy 2017 too had suggested an increase to 2.5 per cent of the GDP by 2025.

The encumbrance of several chronic and infectious diseases poses challenges for all public health systems, which needs pioneering, and initiatives approaches to improve the health of the population effectively. Continuing discriminations in healthcare are of major concern because of education, awareness, income, demographical distribution and multimorbidity.

Bestowing to the statement given by World Health Organisation (WHO), India was suffering from a shortage of healthcare professionals even before the pandemic; The Indian healthcare infrastructure is not able to tread with the demands of the growing population. A study revealed that many of the primary health centres (PHCs) do not have basic infrastructural facilities such as beds, wards, toilets, drinking water facilities, clean labour rooms for delivery, and regular electricity. The overburdened and overstressed healthcare system of India has almost collapsed in the coronavirus pandemic.

The healthcare system in India is very close to a difficult or dangerous situation, with many hospitals unable to handle the persistent arrival of patients at the same time also running short of beds, oxygen cylinders and other essentials, and now the dearth of vaccines as well. If there had been enough beds, oxygen supplies, ventilators and other essential resources if the healthcare system had been better prepared for the second wave, many lives could have been saved. . With the current ongoing situation in our country which the whole world is witnessing has uncovered all the hitches and shortcomings of the Indian healthcare system, at which we're going unnoticed since several years. Now India should get ready to fight Pandemic like Covid 19, because this is not the end, this is just a beginning.

This is factual that currently, we are on a verge of sinking in this turbulent situation but the changes are always inevitable. India needs to look on the decades of underinvestment in public health system and social health, which has left it pugnacious at the time of emergency. This is an opportunity India can embrace and take further steps to make its public healthcare system future-ready.