Health
The COVID-19 pandemic year: Who gained, who lost in health sector during lockdown
A five-part series as India marks a year of the dreaded COVID-19 lockdown: We look at healthcare in this part.
In a five-part series, Down to Earth discusses the effects of the lockdown that was intriduced in 2020 on different sectors in India to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
In this episode, Raju Sajwan, senior correspondent with DTE Hindi, talks to our Banjot Kaur, who has tracked virus SARS-C-V-2 and its journey from the beginning, on the state of India's health since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced lockdown March 23, 2020.
The country faced many challenges, including a shortage of medical equipment (ventilators, oxygen beds, even personal protection equipment). Another major issue that the government was unable to resolve during the early days of the pandemic was testing and contact tracing.
This freewheeling conversation navigates through many of those contentious issues, shortcomings in handling the pandemic, lessons learned and the future course of action. Also on the agenda: The issue of vaccination and whether it is enough to stop the pandemics’ progress.