Public Health Infrastructure is the pillar of healthcare in every nation and in countries like India where only 37%  population is covered by any health insurance scheme.

Role of public Health infrastructure in managing pandemic.

1. Providing support to last mile for early diagnosis and treatment – to reduce the risk of any new disease’s outbreak and controlling it before affecting a large area.
2. Universal & affordable health coverage – to make sure that treatment expenses do not create financial stress like Indian out-of-pocket expenditure is 60% very high for developing country.
3. Focus on preventive and promotive health – to move from cure to prevention model.
4. Provide access to Medical pluralism – like AYUSH & yoga, as there is a hesitation towards some practice.

Lessons for India from Covide-19 crisis.

1. Mapping out a national delivery plan for vaccine while targeting Hotspots.
2. Preparing a National Medical Body to advise government on various Healthcare crisis which are present in foreign country.
3. Preparing national Vaccine policy to develop vaccine in India in less time and identify the talent pool.

Challenges in public Healthcare system.

1. Poor funding & poor quality of work.
2. Unaffordable medical facilities and medicine.
3. Inadequate staff like India has a very low doctor to patients ratio.
4. Focus on curative Healthcare and less on preventive.

WAY AHEAD

1. Increase the Health sector budget to 6% from 2.5% and focus on primary healthcare.
2. Implementation of National Health policy in word and spirit.
3. Reduce micronutrients deficiency.
4. Proper implementation of ongoing projects and in a time bound manner like Sahyog.

To prepare for any future pandemic, we need to improve our Healthcare system from bottom to top and provide adequate resources for it. Only then we can achieve SDG Goal 3 & TARGET 2030.