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How are India’s healthcare systems tackling the coronavirus crisis?

India’s coronavirus infections have climbed to the fourth highest in the world. What could be done better to handle the situation?

India’s coronavirus infections have climbed to the fourth highest in the world.

As the country nears 300,000 cases, the significant spike in infections has begun taking a toll on India’s healthcare system. Hospitals are struggling to cope with the number of patients they are getting. Many allege that patients are being turned away due to a lack of space.

While local governments are trying to ramp up capacity, it is not uniform across the country. Mumbai, India’s financial capital is among the worst hit with nearly 100,000 cases and a need for at least 80,000 more hospital beds. The southern state of Kerala, on the other hand, has been praised for its stringent measures to tackle the infections. The state has reported just over 2,000 confirmed cases so far.

So, what is working and what could be done better to handle the situation? In this edition of WorklifeIndia, we discuss the measures that can help India tackle its healthcare crisis.

Presenter: Devina Gupta

Contributors: Dr Rathan Kelkar, mission director, National Health Mission Kerala; Preetha Reddy, vice chairperson, Apollo Hospitals and president, NATHEALTH; Prof K Srinath Reddy, president, Public Health Foundation of India

Available now

27 minutes

Image credit

Medical workers wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) treating a patient suffering from COVID-19 coronavirus in the emergency ward of Max Smart Super Speciality Hospital in New Delhi on 9 June, 2020 (Credit: Atish Patel/AFP)

Broadcasts

  • Fri 12 Jun 2020 14:32GMT
  • Sat 13 Jun 2020 13:32GMT
  • Sun 14 Jun 2020 06:06GMT

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