Post pandemic challenges and opportunity to reshape healthcare system in India

The COVID-19 pandemic is a six-sigma event and has many repercussions on the Indian macro economy. It adds on more twin problems to the Indian economy- twin deficit (the 1990s), twin balance sheet syndrome (2010) and twin slowdown (2017) in form of structural and cyclical; and now COVID-19 led twin shocks (2020) in form of demand and supply shocks. It poses both challenges and opportunities to Indian macroeconomic policymaking. As we know that the Human Capital Formation has a central stage in the modern economic growth theory; and education and health are the two foundational components of it. This time is for the health led human capital formation in the context of the COVID-19 crisis in India. The COVID-19 pandemic has overwhelmed the health systems of countries across the globe like none other in modern memory. A chronically underfunded and poor infrastructure, poor vision and shortage of personnel are amongst the main features of India’s health care system and this crisis has tested its resilience during the last few months. It has now become clear that the COVID-19 pandemic is going to put significant stress on our already limited healthcare esources. Health can be a contributory factor in the development and growth story of the Indian economy. The present article discusses the key challenges faced by the health care organizations during this pandemic and also explores the opportunities to the health care system in the Indian macroeconomic framework. It also helps to formulate the macroeconomic policy for the six-sigma led economic crisis without ‘saliency bias’ in the health care sector of the Indian economy, as our healthy future cannot be achieved without putting the health and wellbeing of the population at the centre of public policy.