 The National Health Bill, 2009 imagines the right to health as an inclusive right, the core

of which is made of underlying determinants such as the ‘access to minimum essential

food’, ‘adequate safe water’ and ‘access to sanitation…..’.- vidhi legal policy


According to the Fitch Solutions Country Risk and Industry Research (a unit of Fitch Group), if
the lack of medical investment and healthcare infrastructure in India is continued, the potential
epidemic will be worse in India if it is not adequately contained. 1 In the Global Health Security
Index 2019 which measures pandemic preparedness for countries based on their ability to handle
the crisis, India was ranked 57, lower than the US at 1, the UK at 2, Brazil at 22, and Italy at 31.2
The investment of India in its health sector is low, dedicating only 1.3% of its GDP in the year
2017-18.3 This low investment makes India vulnerable to Covid-19.4

The significant inefficiency, dysfunctioning and acute shortage of the healthcare delivery
systems in the public sector in the country do not match up with the growing needs of the
population. As per a recent study in 2019 by the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics &
Policy (India) and Princeton University, India’s public hospitals have only 7,13,986 beds,
including 35,699 in intensive care units and 17,850 ventilators for 1.3 billion people. 5 This shows
lack of interest of the Government in a welfare- state.

India, also has a shortage of healthcare workers. The WHO mandates that the doctor to
population ratio should be 1:1,000, while India had a 1:1,404 ratio as of February 2020 but
according to the Health Ministry data released in October 2019, there is one doctor for every
11,082 people. This more than 10 times the doctor-patient ratio that the World Health
Organization (WHO).6

A Gujarati BBC News journalist, Roxy Gadgekar, describes in an article how his family was
devasted by the virus. He wrote that after his corona infected brother- in- law died, he saw how
much the Indian health care system has being devastated by Covid- 19. He said that as the
epidemic rages now, more people will be denied access basic to basic healthcare. He realized this
after his brother in-law was not given proper treatment and as a consequence of this, died within
five days of being diagnosed. Anand surgical hospital, a famous private hospital was a

1
Economic Times. (2020). Lack of medical investment, healthcare infra big challenges for India's COVID-19 fight:
Fitch. Retrieved from https://health.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/lack-of-medical-investment-
healthcare-infra-big-challenges-for-indias-covid-19-fight-fitch/75737892.
2
2019 Global Health Security Index. (2019) (p. 20). Retrieved from
https://www.ghsindex.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2019-Global-Health-Security-Index.pdf.
3
Central Bureau of Health Intelligence. (2019). National Health Profile 2019 (p. 172).
4
Kapoor, C. (2020). COVID-19: Is Indian healthcare system heading for collapse?. Retrieved 22 July
2020, from https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/covid-19-is-indian-healthcare-system-heading-for-
collapse/1871871
5
 Kapoor, G., Sriram, A., Joshi, J., Nandi, A., & Laxminarayan, R. (2019). COVID-19 in India : State-wise
estimates of current hospital beds, intensive care unit (ICU) beds and ventilators. The Centre for Disease
Dynamics, Economics and Policy.
6
Kapoor, C. (2020). COVID-19: Is Indian healthcare system heading for collapse?. Retrieved 22 July
2020, from https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/covid-19-is-indian-healthcare-system-heading-for-
collapse/1871871