The pandemic has exposed the healthcare system in rural India, where the Covid-19 crisis is largely silent. In May it accounted for six districts in rural India 52 percent of deaths because of Covid-19 and 53 percent of all new cases the infection.
“While the miserable state of readiness has been in the spotlight in urban India, a more worrying scenario is looming in the rural hinterland,” says a new statistical report from the Center for Science and Environment (CSE).
CSE, based in New Delhi, is a non-profit research and advocacy organization.
Deplorable state of primary health care
The report — State of India’s Environment in Numbers 2021 – Says Community Health Centers in Rural India Need 76 percent more doctors, 56 percent more radiologists and 35 percent more laboratory technicianswhich underscores the severe shortage of health professionals in primary health care facilities.
Upswing in rural areas
“One of the most important pieces of information that emerges is that India was hit hardest in the world in the second wave and rural India was hit harder than our urban areas,” said Richard Mahapatra.
In addition to the report’s author, Mahapatra is the executive editor of the biweekly Down To Earth magazine.
“In May of this year, India alone accounted for India more than half of the daily worldwide cases in six days. The peak was due to an increase in cases in rural areas, “said Richard Mahapatra.
Government data recategorization
Government sources have told India Today that an attempt is being made to revise the mechanism for reporting Covid-19 cases and mortality, particularly in rural India.
Test and mortality data shared with the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) and Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), will be further divided into “rural and urban areas”, Indicate sources. The data was previously shared in a state format.
The devastation in rural India from the second wave of Covid-19 infections prompted the authorities to make this decision in order to better understand the spread of the virus.
Economic impact and recovery
The economic impact of the pandemic has been and will be very severe, says Rajit Sengupta, one of the report’s lead authors.
“The spread of the pandemic to fragile rural areas means the country will take longer to recover. This will likely slow GDP growth over the next year,” Sengupta writes.
The urban unemployment rate rose to almost 15 percent in May 2021.
On the other hand, it has been found that several states and UTs help pay fees under the Mahatma Gandhi National Law to Ensure Rural Employment (MGNREGA). Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh were responsible for most of the payment delays.
Migrant crisis escalates
Sunita Narain highlighted the migrant crisis, saying: “Data on migrants is sparse – and every time there is a lockdown, governments are caught unprepared by urban emigration.”
Narain, director of the Center for Science and the Environment (CSE), adds: “This is compounded by the fact that there is an exodus – people are leaving their homes for many reasons of economic and environmental hardship, including extreme weather conditions.” and natural disasters. “
“Covid has caused excess mortality in rural India”
The death rate in rural India is 7 per 1,000 people per year, says Dr. Chandrakant Lahariya, public policy expert. That means there would be one death every two months in a village of a thousand people, he added.
“We know that in the month of April-May when there was more than one death [in such villages], it was an excess mortality. There have been many villages that we know where there have been three or four deaths. This is an indicator of the excess mortality that Covid has caused more deaths than officially reported, “says Dr. Lahariya.
He continues: “There are official Covid-19 deaths and we must remember that any number above that would be challenged. We wouldn’t know the real number until the civil registration system is adopted or followed and we may get the real number. ”A year later. There will also be a census and we will know the numbers. “
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