The fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic is largely in the hands of government hospitals, which in India are not particularly known for good infrastructure except for in the biggest cities. Government hospitals are plagued by a shortage of doctors, nurses and other support staff. On the other hand, private hospitals are better managed and are well equipped. The question is, should India take over private hospitals at least in districts where coronavirus cases are growing, until the Covid-19 outbreak is contained?
This week, the Supreme Court directed the government to ensure that Covid-19 tests, which cost Rs 4,500 at private laboratories, are done free for all suspected cases. Private hospitals offer expensive treatment. In one case, hospitalisation cost for a Covid-19 patient was reported to be Rs 12 lakh. The employer firm paid the amount. Not too many people can afford this cost of Covid-19 treatment in India.
As per many Healthcare experts and even public representative, its right time that the government must takeover all the private hospitals to fight in systemic way as it is being done in European countries. It is felt that government alone with the private participation cannot contain the pandemic and control the present situation.
In one of the European country, Spain, as per the WHO , there are three hospital beds and 4.1 physicians for every 1,000 persons. India, in contrast, has 0.7 hospital beds and 0.8 physicians for every 1,000 persons. Still Spain and Italy's healthcare system was pushed to the breaking point due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. It prompted the both the government to unveil sweeping reforms that led to nationalisation of all private hospitals. The country took over private healthcare providers and requisition materials such as Covid-19 test kits and protective gears including face masks.
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