WISH: WISH SURVEY SHOWS INDIA'S HEALTHCARE SYSTEM LAGS BEHIND IN THE FIGHT AGAINST FUTURE PANDEMICS

More than half of India's healthcare workers identify lack of access to equipment and inadequate preparation as key threats that endanger their health system

DOHA, Qatar, Sept. 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- 55 percent of India's healthcare workers believe the efficiency of India's national health system is at risk should a major threat or another pandemic emerge in the next five years, due to a lack of access to equipment and inadequate preparation, found a study conducted by YouGov on behalf of the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH). 

These findings reveal India's health system to be much weaker in this area than other countries such as the US (31 percent), the UK (36 percent), and Saudi Arabia (46 percent) to cope with another large-scale health emergency.

Moreover, India was also found to be the least prepared for a new pandemic amongst the surveyed countries. 60 percent of its healthcare workers consider a lack of preparation as one of the top hazards to their national health system's ability in such an event, in contrast to those in Brazil (44 percent), the US (47 percent), Saudi Arabia (48 percent), the UK (48 percent) and Nigeria (54 percent).

When asked about the leading factors damaging their health system's resilience, a quarter (25 percent) of India's healthcare workers highlighted a lack of specialized equipment, with other issues such as lack of financing and a shortage of skilled workers also featuring prominently.

Despite these challenges, 90 percent of India's healthcare practitioners admitted that they would still train as healthcare professionals if joining the industry now – this was highest number compared with peers in the UK (35 percent), US (53 percent), Brazil (64 percent), Saudi Arabia (76 percent) and Nigeria (85 percent).

"These insights underline the acute need to widen access to essential tools, including protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators that have shielded communities all over the world against the severe impact of the COVID-19 virus and various communicable diseases. The absence of these basic facilities, compounded by other underlying issues facing the health systems of developing nations such as India, demand immediate solutions that other nations, global health organizations and change enablers are in the position to create. We must use this understanding to shoulder greater responsibility towards empowering critically vulnerable health systems to avert the risk of failure in the event of future health emergencies," said Sultana Afdhal, CEO of WISH.

The global survey, which included healthcare professionals from the UK, US, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, India, and Brazil, aimed to gauge the impact of dealing with COVID-19 on healthcare workers' lives, as well as explore what they foresee as the future of healthcare.

WISH, a global health initiative of Qatar Foundation, is a global platform which gathers healthcare experts, policymakers, and innovators to unite in the goal of building a healthier world. The biennial WISH Summit, taking place October 4 – 6 in Doha, Qatar and virtually, aims to showcase WISH's evidence-based research and discuss how to translate these findings into practical, policy-driven solutions that help transform global healthcare delivery.

The sixth edition of the summit will run under the banner of "Healing the Future." The summit will thoroughly explore the legacy of COVID-19 from various perspectives, including how to build more resilient and sustainable healthcare systems, improve our response to the mental health crisis faced by health and care workers, and harness the rapid progress in pharmaceutical innovation that has taken place during the pandemic.

For more information on WISH, visit www.wish.org.qa.

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