The current wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the grim state of health infrastructure across the country. Even patients in metro cities with better-equipped infrastructure are finding it difficult to get a hospital bed during the intense second surge.
According to a
recent report by the popular property portal Housing.com, India has only 1.4 beds available per 1,000 people in public and private sector hospitals combined together. The number goes down to half a bed per 1,000 people if we consider just the public healthcare system.
This report also highlighted the availability of hospital beds and other health infrastructure in India's top eight metro cities -- Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Pune.
Here is a look at the list of the cities according to the number of beds available for every 1,000 residents.
Bengaluru
Karnataka’s capital city tops the list among the cities in terms of bed availability per 1,000 people. India’s own Silicon Valley has 3.6 hospital beds per 1,000 people. However, the figure is lower when compared to Karnataka’s state average of 5.3 hospital beds per 1,000 people.
Pune
This Maharashtrian city comes at number two with 3.5 hospital beds available per 1,000 people. However, when it comes to other health infrastructure parameters, including air-water quality and sanitation, Pune bags the number one position in the Housing.com report.
Ahmedabad
Gujarat’s capital city is ranked number three in the survey, with 3.2 hospital beds per 1,000 people. However, the state average of beds availability in Gujarat is very low at only one bed for every 1000 people.
Chennai
Tamil Nadu’s capital city has three hospital beds available for every 1,000 people. Only 2.2 hospital beds are available for 1,000 people on average in Tamil Nadu.
Hyderabad
Another major south Indian city is number 5 on this list, with 2.9 beds for every 1,000 people, which is almost the same as the state’s average.
Mumbai
Despite being regarded as the economic capital of India, hospital bed availability here is lower than in many other major cities of the country. Mumbai has only 2.2 hospital beds available per 1,000 people.
Delhi NCR
The health infrastructure in the National Capital Region (NCR) of the country should be better than in other parts but unfortunately, that is not the case. Delhi NCR lags far behind compared to other major cities in the country with just two beds available for every 1,000 people.
Kolkata
Kolkata, the capital city of West Bengal, also has two hospital beds available for every 1,000 people and comes in last on the list. The situation is even more worrisome in the state with an average of 1.3 beds.
