Skip to main content

Delhi faces healthcare facilities crisis, funds crunch: IMPRI seminar told

By A Representative
Participating in a web policy talk conducted by the Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI), Delhi, speakers have pointed towards lack of healthcare facilities and funds crunch among major difficulties the national capital has been facing following the Covid-19 crisis, which led the Government of India to impose lockdown.
Aam Aadmi Party MLA Sanjeev Jha, even as praising measures taken by the Delhi government has taken like setting up of night shelters for migrant workers, cash transfers, provision of ration and cooked meals, and advance pension, admitted that there was a “paucity of beds and medical supplies in hospitals.”
Dr Rashmi Singh, additional commissioner, North Delhi Municipal Corporation, said that there is a need for adaptability, flexibility, and resilience in institutions, insisting, “Sustained efforts would be needed in ensuring health, sanitation and hygiene”, adding, there is a need to “map” resources against the needs.
Dr BK Sharma, advisor, Department of Planning, Delhi government, raised concerns about the resource crunch, underlining this is happening despite the fact that “the problems and the solutions are known”. informal sector workers were “excluded from records and had not received wages for the past three months.”
The seminar was organised against the backdrop of an IMPRI survey in which interviewing 3,121 households across 50 plus cities of the country from May 7 to May 17, whose overall findings suggest that over 90% of respondents reporting ‘out-of-pocket’ expenditure for financing healthcare and 75% respondents reported becoming unemployed due to the lockdown.

Comments

TRENDING

Civil society at a crossroads: Service delivery vs. rights in the fight for social change

Counterview News   In the latest episode of the podcast Unmute , hosts Gagan Sethi and Minar Pimple convened a profound conversation with two veteran development practitioners to dissect a persistent tension within civil society: the perceived divide between service delivery and the struggle for rights. The episode, titled "Beyond Service Delivery: Civil Society, Rights, and the Politics of Social Change," featured Apoorva Oza , a development practitioner with decades of experience in rural development and institution-building, and Professor Dipa Sinha , a development economist known for her work on food, nutrition, gender, and social policy.

Grain vs. gasoline: How the global biofuel boom threatens India’s food and water security

By Rajiv Shah  A new report published by the international research and advocacy organization GRAIN has warned that the global resurgence of biofuels is triggering a dangerous dynamic of “more fuel, less food, more land grabs.” Driven by intersecting energy security concerns, geopolitical tensions, and aggressive decarbonization mandates, the expanding agrofuel industry is increasingly pitting corporate energy interests against global food security and indigenous land rights. 

Sikkim governor row: ALIFA asks centre to explain hurried appointment in Ankita Bhandari case

By A Representative   The All-India Feminist Alliance (ALIFA) on Saturday expressed “immense pain and outrage” that even after four years and a national uproar, justice has not been fully delivered in the Ankita Bhandari murder case and that a ruling party politician facing allegations has been “gifted a high-ranking constitutional office.” In a statement, ALIFA extended “unflinching solidarity” to Ankita’s parents, who it said are “fighting for justice on the streets of Delhi,” and demanded that pending the CBI inquiry and judicial decision, the appointment of BJP leader Dushyant Kumar Gautam as Sikkim’s Governor be subject to “immediate presidential review.”