Does Robust Health Infrastructure Alone Mitigate a Pandemic? Comparison of Health Systems and the Pandemic Mitigation in 2020 in Three Indian States
| Author | Taz Mazinder Barua |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00195561221097848 |
| Published date | 01 December 2022 |
| Date | 01 December 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Does Robust Health
Infrastructure Alone
Mitigate a Pandemic?
Comparison of Health
Systems and the
Pandemic Mitigation
in 2020 in Three Indian
States
Taz Mazinder Barua1
Abstract
The breakout of the Covid-19 global pandemic in India since March 2020 dev-
astated the national economy, disrupted the federal balance of power between
the Centre and the State governments, and led to a migrant crisis. In this article,
data-derived lessons are drawn from the management of the pandemic at the
State government levels. The article yields an answer to whether the availabil-
ity of health infrastructure singularly affects the effectiveness of the control of
the pandemic. This article compares the management of the Covid-19 pandemic
by the health systems of the three Indian States of Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and
Kerala in the year 2020. Although the response to the outbreak in Kerala was
hailed for its more effective arrest of the disease, the response of the Kerala
health system was also distinguished by the prior experience in handling viral
outbreaks, active community participation in controlling the disease and a proac-
tive mitigation strategy.
Keywords
Covid-19, Global Pandemic, Health Infrastructure, Health System, Community
Participation, Indian States
Article
Indian Journal of Public
Administration
68(4) 585–598, 2022
© 2022 IIPA
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DOI: 10.1177/00195561221097848
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1 Department of Political Science, Gauhati University, Guwahati, Assam, India.
Corresponding author:
Taz Mazinder Barua, Department of Political Science, Gauhati University, Jalukbari, Guwahati, Assam
781014, India.
E-mail: taz.barua@gmail.com
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