Was India Prepared For The COVID-19 Crisis?

The COVID-19 crisis has put the whole world in a state of war with a dynamic and unseen enemy. Every country including India has been struggling to combat the pandemic. But let’s ask ourselves the fundamental question, was the Indian government and our healthcare system prepared for this crisis? In India, only one government allopathic doctor is available for every 10,926 patients; the ratio does not align with the recommendation of the WHO, which is 1:1000 1 .

There is an utmost need for doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals to tackle the increasing number of COVID-19 cases. When there was a demand for rapid testing kits for COVID-19 detection, India had to import them from leading multinational manufacturers 2 . The lack of research facilities is yet another problem faced by the Indian healthcare system. India’s rate of testing COVID-19 samples is 380 per million…