Learning from tragedy

COVID-19 has opened afresh discussions on the much-needed funds and facilities for the healthcare sector, the inequity in availability of resources across urban and rural India and their adequacy within these communities. It lays bare the need for feedback loops that inform and determine, on an ongoing basis, the adequacy or the lack of healthcare resources. Impending disasters from hazardous levels of pollution, rising temperature, threatened nutrient supply linked to climate change, do not conjure up a healthy future for India. Pivotal change is required and would require a marked increase in public expenditure on health as percentage of the GDP of the country.