The floodwaters in Chennai have now receded but has left behind a huge urban disaster. Hundreds have been killed, many more are still missing and thousands have been displaced. Now, the city has to fight the threat of infectious diseases as sewage and uncleared garbage lies around the streets waiting to be cleared.
This article in yesterdays Hindu makes a persuasive argument in favour of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and how it could have helped deal with the effects of a disaster like Chennai. We at Health Issues India have maintained that Health has to become a political issue on par with education or economic development. Access to a basic level of healthcare has to be considered a fundamental human right. For UHC to be possible, the Government must raise the level of spending on healthcare from the 1 percent of GDP that it currently is to at least 2.5 percent that is the baseline standard for most nations.
