Bmj British Medical Journal
Feature
Healthcare in India
Covid-19 exposes the high cost of India’s reliance on private healthcare
BMJ 2020; 370 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m3506 (Published 10 September 2020)
Cite this as: BMJ 2020;370:m3506
Rapid response
Re: Covid-19 exposes the high cost of India’s reliance on private healthcare
Dear Editor
COVID-19 Related Deaths are Lower in India
India is taking many steps to combat the COVID-19 spread. Inspite of this India is emerging as a new hot spot in Asia.
In the 37th week of the COVID-19 Pandemic, India is the second country in the global list of confirmed COVID-19 cases on 7.9.2020.
For the past few weeks India is in first place in reporting the number of daily new COVID-19 cases; there are over 95k cases on 9.9.20 and over 96k cases on 10.9.20.
In the global list of number of COVID-19 related deaths, India is in the third place with 76, 304 deaths on 10.9.20 and the death rate is very low at 1.67%. The recovery rate in India is 77.63% as of 10.9.20.
In the 37th week of the COVID-19 Pandemic, in Asia about 55.41% of the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases are from India and it is 16.07% among the global number of total cases of 28, 367, 581 as of 11.9.20.
India, which took the resort of emergency, lockdowns and other measures to combat the further spread of the virus, has begun to introduce relaxation such as reopening public spaces, religious places, businesses transport and other institutions over the last several days with safety restrictions. This is despite the fact that there is a silent threat amid reopening. A second and even a third wave is feared but economic activities and normal human activities cannot be allowed to remain restricted for an indefinite period of time in developing countries like India.
In India, what is more worrying is that cases are rising steadily with the peak nowhere in sight. Add to this the rickety health infrastructure and densely populated areas with poor personal hygiene, lack of social distancing and not wearing masks by all, we may have a big COVID-19 related disaster in the near future.
Competing interests: No competing interests
11 September 2020
M.A. Aleem
Emeritus Professor of Neurology * Visiting Specialist in Neurology ** Consultant Neurologist ***
The Tamilnadu Dr.M.G.R. Medical University * Dhanalakshami Srinivasan Medical College ** ABC Hospital ***
Chennai 600032* Perambalure 621212** Trichy 620018*** Tamilnadu India
@drmaaleem
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