Abstract

As India is working towards the G20 presidency in 2023, one of the major focuses of the country is on its health sector. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the country had received a reality check of its infrastructure conditions and the problems related to the health sector. Before 2020, the Indian government had not much emphasis on improving the health sector or even bringing a health agenda to the political rallies, therefore, the pandemic brought in a shift in the paradigm of the nation’s functioning. In the same light, this research paper presents the health situation of India before, during, and after the Covid-19 pandemic. This paper also highlights how India as the G20 Health Working Group’s member can utilize the opportunity in making the ‘Vasudaiva Kutumbakam’ a global phenomenon.  

Introduction 

Health is seen as one of the most important elements of an individual’s life as one’s well-being can contribute to the progress of society. In the last few decades, the health system in India has changed in terms of policies and the upliftment of the sector. Even though the government is pumping thousands of crores in the health sector along with pvt investments being poured in, the question of whether the change is visible on ground, the condition remains the same. India’s health budget is ₹5,96,440 crore (3.2% of GDP and ₹4,470 per capita) and during the COVID-19 when the nation saw the rural healthcare crumble, the government realized that there is a need to increase the investments or allocation for this sector. With the commencement of Covid-19, India witnessed issues on various fronts  like the oxygen cylinder crisis, shortage of beds, rural healthcare system deterioration, shortage of experienced doctors, etc, which made India witness the flaws in its healthcare system being displayed at the forefront. On the contrary, India also took the courage to ramp up the production of PPE kits, 2 homemade vaccines which every nation used to save millions of lives. Thus, India became an example for other countries across the world in holding onto a ray of hope and dealing with the problems while India itself faced the flaws of the healthcare system. 

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