NEW DELHI , Priya Sharma's 3-year-old son died because the hospital didn't have a bed. He had pneumonia. It's treatable. But there was no bed. There was no doctor. There was no hope. He died. This is not healthcare. This is murder by neglect.
India spends 1.4% of GDP on healthcare. The USA spends 17%. China spends 5%. Even Bangladesh spends 2.3%. But we spend 1.4%. That's less than what we spend on defense. That's less than what we spend on subsidies. That's less than what politicians steal.
The numbers are shocking. We have 1 doctor for 1,445 people. The WHO recommends 1 for 1,000. We have 1.3 beds for 1,000 people. The WHO recommends 3.5. We have 0.7 nurses for 1,000 people. The WHO recommends 3.
Dr. Arvind Kumar, a doctor in a government hospital, explains: 'We're overwhelmed. We see 500 patients a day. We have 50 beds. We have 10 doctors. We can't treat everyone. We can't save everyone. People die. Not because we don't want to help. Because we can't.'
The cost is human. 2.4 million Indians die every year from preventable causes. 1.2 million die from lack of access to healthcare. 600,000 die from poor quality healthcare. These are not numbers. These are lives. These are families. These are tragedies.
But here's what they don't tell you: the system is designed to fail. It's designed to keep people poor and sick. It's designed to make healthcare a luxury, not a right. It's designed to let people die rather than spend money to save them.
The solution is not in building more hospitals or training more doctors. It's in spending more money. It's in making healthcare a priority, not an afterthought. It's in ensuring that every Indian has access to quality healthcare, not just the rich.
But until that happens, millions will keep dying. Millions will keep suffering. Millions will keep being failed by the system. And healthcare will remain a luxury for the few, not a right for all.