I would liketo begin with the optimistic note that history teaches us that human speciesare quite resilient and will come out victorious over COVID-19 pandemic as withmany other calamities that our planet has witnessed. What is most important ishow we respond to it and also what lessons do we drive home? Although, it istoo early to draw any final analysis on these issues as we are still in themidst of the pandemic.
Nevertheless,we have already witnessed extremes in the number of infections and fatalitiesreported in different parts of the world, depending on the way world leadershave responded in the early phase of the pandemic. In countries like NewZealand, Germany and Hong Kong, which were swift in testing and enforcing thelockdown, the number of deaths has been relatively lower. In these countries,coincidently, the heads of the States happen to be females. It is known thatfemales are more compassionate than males and these wise women weighed thesafety of the humans above the economic losses. In comparison, the UnitedStates and Great Britain had a muted response to the pandemic with theconsequence that thousands of people have perished in these countries.
The firstlesson that we ought to learn from this pandemic is the welfare of the humanbeings should precede over everything else. As it has been quoted several timesduring this pandemic that “Jahn hai to Jahan hai (if there is life there isworld)”. This pandemic has also set off alarm bells on the measly healthcarefacilities available around the world. In particular, in India the medicalfacilities need to be ramped up by several orders of magnitude. India has shocking8.5 hospital beds available for every 10, 000 people and in comparison Japanand South Korea have about 100 beds for the same number of people. Govt. ofIndia spends a meagre 1.29% of GDP on healthcare system and the bulk of it isthe establishment expenditure comprising salaries and budgetary support tovarious hospitals and institutions. The developed nations like the UnitedStates, Germany and Japan spend more than 10% of GDP on healthcare. This figurealso includes out-of-pocket expenditures, which have gone through the roof inmany countries. In India also the out-of-pocket expenditure is about 2% of GDP.This means that people in India are spending more money from their own pocketson healthcare than what Government is spending on them. We have witnessedmushrooming of private hospitals in nook and corner of the country. Although,on the face of it we should encourage such private institutions, but over theyears these places have become purely business enterprises with the soleobjective to mint money. The Government needs to have strict regulations inplace on the workings and the prices prescribed by these private players forvarious procedures. We need to recognize that the greatest asset a country likeIndia has are its people and Government ought to invest in them by providing arobust public healthcare system. How can your people contribute to the economicdevelopment if they are sick? We should have a healthcare system that isaccessible to all, irrespective of their earnings. Right now, most of theIndians cannot even afford to enter a private hospital as the entry fee itselfis thousands of rupees. Government should gradually ramp up the spending onhealthcare from a paltry 1.29% of GDP to about 5% in the next few years. It mayalso consider nationalizing these private hospitals or these should be mandatedto treat the people belonging to the marginalized communities withsubstantially reduced costs.
We shouldstrive to be a global power through empowerment of our people and not through thepurchase of arms and ammunition. The military spending data recently releasedby “Stockholm International Peace Research Institute” is quite alarming withthe global expenditure on military risen to $1917 billion in 2019, an increaseof 3.6% from 2018 and is the largest annual growth in spending since 2010. Whatis surprising is that India is the third largest spender with expenditure of$71.1 billion in 2019? It has increased military expenditure by 6.8% from 2018and is largely due to the rivalry with China. The military expenditure of Chinahas rocketed to $261 billion in 2019, which clearly is an intimidating figure.
In thebackdrop of covid-19, the geopolitical axes are going to be redrawn consideringthat coronavirus originating in China. It would be prudent for India torecalibrate its policies that are not stacked up against China rather becrafted with the central theme to uplift its masses. Let us keep in mind thatabout one quarter of the population living in rural areas of India is still belowthe poverty line.
Prof. Sheikh Javid Ahmed is presently Vice-Chancellor, Cluster University Srinagar. Opinions expressed are his personal.