As these Statista graphs (based on OECD data) show, India does not have enough Doctors or Nurses for our 1.366 billion people.
Therefore, it makes absolute sense that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appealed to us (the citizens of India) to restrict our clinic/hospital visits only to absolutely essential visits or emergency visits.
It also makes sense that the PM has requested us to postpone non-emergency surgeries.
Perhaps more importantly, for how long will India continue to be at the bottom of such charts? When will we take up or Doctors per 1000 people and Nurses per 1000 people ratios to better or healthier (no pun intended) levels?
When I was a leading Healthcare Consultant from 1997 to 2001, I wrote many articles on this subject and also spoke at several forums/platforms. But – alas – nothing seems to have changed in 19 years. WE CONTINUE TO BE AS CALLOUS AS WE ALWAYS WERE.