Need Analysis of Indian Critical Health Care Delivery in Government Sectors and Its Impact on the General Public: A Time to Revamp Public Health Care Infrastructure

Abstract

Background: Poverty is directly linked to public health care delivery in many ways and dimensions. Every aspect of the human sphere is preplanned, but a health crisis is the only emergency which pushes humanity into severe economic stress. Therefore, every nation aims to safeguard its citizens from a health crisis. In this aspect, India needs to improve its public health infrastructure in order to protect its citizens and save them from poverty.

Objectives: (1) To assess the current pitfalls in public critical health care delivery, (2) to analyze whether the health care delivery matches the requirements of its population in every state, (3) to produce solutions and guidelines to overcome the stress in this priority area.

Materials and methods: Data regarding the critical care workforce, which includes critical care doctors and nurses, were taken from official websites and other sources. Critical care infrastructure data were retrieved from the Internet sources. Data were validated by consulting state government sources and cross-checked for bias elimination. The data were analyzed using the "Statistical Package for Social Sciences" software version 20, and were presented using descriptive statistics.

Results: There is a 1:10 percentage of deficit in the case of critical care workforce and infrastructure when compared with its need analysis. Critical care medicine specialists are in 1:75 when compared to other specialties.

Conclusion: Overall, the public sector critical care needs a total boost through out of box solutions. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India spent the third most on defense in the world in 2021. India spent 76.6 billion dollars on its military in 2021, up 33% from 2012 and 0.9% from 2020. However, since India is considered a fast-growing economy, there is still a huge disparity in critical care. Without resetting critical health care, India cannot grow in welfare indices even if it is among the top gross domestic product (GDP) countries.

How to cite this article: Prabu D, Gousalya V, Rajmohan M, Dinesh MD, Bharathwaj VV, Sindhu R, et al. Need Analysis of Indian Critical Health Care Delivery in Government Sectors and its Impact on the General Public: A Time to Revamp Public Health Care Infrastructure. Indian J Crit Care Med 2023;27(4):237-245.

Keywords: Critical care; Critical care doctors; Critical care nurses; Human resources; ICU beds; Infrastructure; Manpower; Medicines; Ventilators.