Spain Nationalises All Private Hospitals To Tackle Coronavirus. Here Is What India Can Do

In a massive development, Spanish government has moved to nationalise all private hospitals in a bid to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

Spain is one of the worst-affected countries outside of China and its government has taken a number of extraordinary steps in an attempt to fight the novel virus.

AP

The government last week declared a state of national emergency, closing schools and public spaces and citizens that they can only leave the house to go to work or buy essentials like food and medicine.

Here's what India can do:

While nationalising private hospitals can't be a straightforward process and in India's case, it doesn't seem to be a viable option at the moment. The line between preparedness and panic is rather thin, especially in the midst of such an pandemic.

India needs to do two things immediately: ban public gatherings and launch a massive awareness campaign on basic hygiene and social protection. Some of the states have already taken steps to ban huge gatherings - malls, temples, mosques, and other public places have been shut, but there is a need to have such measure in place across all the states and union territories.

PTI

We also need to understand that we must work on our health infrastructure and concentrate on measures for controlling and containing the spread of this virus.

All our efforts must be for efficient and effective public health. It is high time we enhance our control mechanism and take necessary steps to protect Indian citizens from this global health emergency. Moreover, effective testing of suspected patients must be made more effective.

A recent report in Huffington Post had suggested that low number of coronavirus cases in India could be a result of low testing, which is a definite cause for concern. There has to be a constructive manner in which the suspected patients are tested without any delay. Identification and effective location of cases must be carried out more efficiently.

PTI

India's response to the virus has has been effective than many of the countries, but one of the things that¡¯s become clear about managing any epidemic in the past is that they tend to grow very fast in the first weeks or months.

There can't be any complacency and strict measures should be in place to tackle the pandemic. It will remain to be seen how the upcoming days play out and what they bring for India.

The COVID-19 demands that our public health system is not only strengthened but also made more effective and stringent. It is time to work on medical research and look for vaccines and other important measures to counter the massive implications of a pandemic like the COVID-19. But are we prepared enough?