When Manit Parikh's mother tested positive for the new coronavirus, she was rushed by ambulance to Mumbai's private Lilavati Hospital, but officials told the family no critical-care beds were available.
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI - When Manit Parikh’s mother tested positive for the new coronavirus, she was rushed by ambulance to Mumbai’s private Lilavati Hospital, but officials told the family no critical-care beds were available.
Parikh said he believes the delays contributed to his grandfather’s death. Officials at Lilavati and Bombay Hospital declined to speak with Reuters. Representatives of Breach Candy hospital did not respond to requests for comment. Mukherjee’s team estimates that between 630,000 and 2.1 million people in India - out of a population of 1.3 billion - will become infected by early July.
India has 0.5 beds per 1,000 people, according to the latest data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , up from 0.4 beds in 2009, but among lowest of countries surveyed by the OECD. In contrast, China has 4.3 hospital beds per 1,000 people and the United States has 2.8, according to the latest OECD figures.
As a result, resident doctors will receive less time off than what is prescribed by the federal government, the authority said. Some medical professionals told Reuters they already are overburdened and treating patients without adequate protective gear, exposing them to a higher risk of infection. Some health experts say India’s struggle to treat virus patients is the result of chronic underinvestment in healthcare. The Indian government estimates it spends only about 1.5% of its GDP on public health. That figure is higher than it was - about 1% in the 1980s and 1.3% five years ago - but India still ranks among the world’s lowest spenders in terms of percentage of GDP.
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