Coronavirus | An opportunity to reshape health care

The COVID-19 pandemic may have unwittingly led to some desirable changes; the challenge is to build on this

Akshay Baheti, Sanjay Nagral
July 27, 2020, The Hindu

The COVID-19 pandemic has massively disrupted our lives. Besides direct devastation of health, the epidemic and the lockdown have had myriad indirect effects, be it on the environment, livelihoods, or supply chains. There has been a lot of discussion around the lack of capacity of our health-care system to fight this epidemic. But the impact of COVID-19 and the lockdown on the ‘business’ of health care has not been examined. This has an important bearing on the larger arena of health care for our citizens in the near future.

Indian health care has been increasingly privatised over the last few decades. This has led to intense market competition. A uniquely unregulated form of health care has thrived. It has also been marked by several questionable practices. These have been under the media and public glare leading to a huge trust deficit. Will the changed milieu have an impact on this? How will this affect care of other conditions?

To read more, log in to The Hindu archives