{"id":111623,"date":"2021-06-11T11:08:15","date_gmt":"2021-06-11T05:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.forumias.com\/?p=111623"},"modified":"2021-06-11T11:08:15","modified_gmt":"2021-06-11T05:38:15","slug":"dismal-healthcare-systems-in-south-asia-needs-attention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/dismal-healthcare-systems-in-south-asia-needs-attention\/","title":{"rendered":"Dismal Healthcare systems in South Asia needs attention"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><b>Synopsis<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The second wave of pandemic highlighted the lacunas in the healthcare\u00a0systems in South Asia. The situation now demands the replacement of short term measures with a well-thought-out vision and political commitment for long-term healing.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><b>Background<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The pandemic managed to penetrate across the countries due to the dismal state of health infrastructure and reluctance to enhance public health care spending. For example,<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">India recorded 4,529 deaths from COVID-19 on 18th May 2021. It is the highest daily death toll recorded in the world, beating 4468 deaths recorded by the US in January 2021.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The virus has consolidated itself in other South Asian countries as well.<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sri Lanka added 78,218 cases in May.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pakistan crossed over 200 daily deaths in April, its highest since the pandemic started.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bangladesh detected the highly contagious <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/what-is-the-delta-variant-of-covid-19\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Delta variant of Covid-19<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The consolidation of the virus has been attributed to the dismal state of healthcare systems in South Asian countries.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Read Also :-<a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/why-indian-economy-is-slowing-down\/\">What are the issues facing Indian Economy?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h5><b>Dismal State of Healthcare systems in South Asia<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Funding<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The Indian government spends around 1.4 % of its GDP on public healthcare. There is a lack of prudent expenditure towards public health in other south Asian nations as well.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Doctor to Population Ratio<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: In India, there are only 0.08 doctors per 1000 population in the public health sector. But the WHO standard is 1 per 1000 population. Pakistan and Bangladesh also have less than one doctor per 1000 population.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Bed Availability<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: India has only half a bed available for every 1,000 people. Similarly, Bangladesh and Pakistan have a bed to patient ratio of 0.8 and 0.6 respectively.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Out of Pocket Expenditure<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: The ideal out-of-pocket expenditure should not surpass 15% to 20% of the total health expenditure. However it is 62.67%, 73.87% and 56.24% for India, Bangladesh and Pakistan respectively.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5><b>Other factors behind the spread of the virus in South Asia:<\/b><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li><b>First, <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">superspreader events in India gave a lucrative opportunity for the spreading of the virus<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Second<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the citizens violated the <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/how-covid-19-can-be-addressed-via-covid-19-appropriate-behaviour\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Covid protocols by disregarding social distancing<\/a>, not wearing masks etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Third<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the logistical mismanagement in the countries delayed the accessibility of vaccines and other life-saving drugs.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><b>Fourth<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the increase in health expenditure remained well below the desired levels. For instance, Pakistan\u2019s defence budget was increased by 12% in 2020-21 to reach $7.85 billion. On the other hand, the spending on health remained around $151 million.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Read Also :-<a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/revitalizing-coal-bed-methane-in-india\/\">Revitalizing Coal Bed Methane in India<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<h5><b>Way forward<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The South Asian countries can <\/span><b>learn from the Bhutan Model<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. There has been only 1 death and 1724 cases of Covid-19 in the country.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Its success is owed to a well-funded and prepared public health system with stringent measures, responsible citizenship, and an accountable government.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is a need to <\/span><b>enhance public expenditure,<\/b> <b>especially towards <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/tackling-pandemic-in-rural-india\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">rural healthcare<\/a><\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. In <a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/india-needs-to-strengthen-the-rural-health-infrastructure\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rural India, the poor health care system<\/a> enhanced the hardships of people &#8211;<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Patients were treated on the hospital floor for lack of beds,\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some had to walk hundreds of miles just to reach a hospital and\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many were compelled to resort to homemade concoctions and local quacks<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The South Asian nations can also take <\/span><b>lessons from the Southeast Asian countries<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> including Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia etc.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They prioritised investments in healthcare systems while broadening equitable access through universal health coverage schemes.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Read Also :-<a href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/lessons-for-the-health-sector\/\">Lessons for the health sector<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/epaper.thehindu.com\/Home\/ShareArticle?OrgId=GID8LGLRH.1&amp;imageview=0\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Hindu<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Synopsis: The second wave of pandemic highlighted the lacunas in the healthcare\u00a0systems in South Asia. The situation now demands the replacement of short term measures with a well-thought-out vision and political commitment for long-term healing. Background: The pandemic managed to penetrate across the countries due to the dismal state of health infrastructure and reluctance to&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/dismal-healthcare-systems-in-south-asia-needs-attention\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Dismal Healthcare systems in South Asia needs attention<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,1351,1310,9],"tags":[1457],"class_list":["post-111623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-daily-news","category-daily-news-updates","category-public","tag-ir_02","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":{"total":0,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1700466824},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111623\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}