Maslow’s hierarchical triangle of needs is very relevant, need to take care of the physiological needs of the community first before affiliation and security needs.
Health sector has drawn everyone’s attention because of high mortality and morbidity during COVID 19 pandemic. Health was earlier having low priority and has now drawn attention of all stakeholders. Many initiatives have been taken to improve healthcare. The use of IT has been recognized by using telemedicine, healthcare apps and information technology. The flip has been provided by increased coverage of optical fiber and launch of 5G services. In BharatNet project of India 5.6 lakh kms of optical fiber has been laid and all gram panchayats have been connected by optimal mix of media. The National Digital Health Mission is a good initiative in this direction however it should be implemented in project mode at a faster pace with no slippages.
An approval to 157 new medical colleges were given out of which 63 are already functional. It would create extra beds and human resources to take care of the health of the community. Quality of care, accessibility and affordability of healthcare would still remain a concern for years to come. Health is state subject hence status is different from state to state,70% population is rural based and has only 30% national healthcare assets. The new poverty line, which is USD 2.15 per day, draws a deep insight about how much one can afford in this amount of necessities of life forgetting about quality of life. The wasteful expenditures and extravaganza need to be curtailed by everyone to bare minimum to take care of healthcare.
There is always a solution to every problem however a will is required to resolve, there may be few hard decisions to take which may hurt some people. Streamlining and improving any system would hurt the interest of some people hence would be resented. I have no political affiliation but in my personal opinion the present government is trying to solve problems though there is always scope to improve. We need to create a sense of responsibility in the staff to tackle corruption, audit of health workers’ performance, materials and clinical outcomes. The quackery and negligence to patients should be handled with heavy hands. I had done a project to streamline the system of a state government funded by foreign agency which was abandoned because of many pressures, a lesson to be learnt by all.
Maslow’s hierarchical triangle of needs is very relevant, need to take care of the physiological needs of the community first before affiliation and security needs. A healthy mind needs a healthy body. Any expenditure on health is a good investment of the nation. Let all of us strive to get positive holistic health to create a strong nation.
