Nimavat N, Hasan MM, Charmode S, Mandala G, Parmar GR, Bhangu R, Khan I, Singh S, Agrawal A, Shah A, Sachdeva V. COVID-19 pandemic effects on the distribution of healthcare services in India: A systematic review.
World J Virol 2022;
11:186-197. [PMID:
36159611 PMCID:
PMC9372784 DOI:
10.5501/wjv.v11.i4.186]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2021] [Revised: 02/19/2022] [Accepted: 06/27/2022] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought fundamental changes to our problems and priorities, especially those related to the healthcare sector. India was one of the countries severely affected by the harsh consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
AIM
To understand the challenges faced by the healthcare system during a pandemic.
METHODS
The literature search for this review was conducted using PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. We also used Reference Citation Analysis (RCA) to search and improve the results. We focused on the published scientific articles concerned with two major vital areas: (1) The Indian healthcare system; and (2) COVID-19 pandemic effects on the Indian healthcare system.
RESULTS
The Indian healthcare system was suffering even before the pandemic. The pandemic has further stretched the healthcare services in India. The main obstacle in the healthcare system was to combat the rising number of communicable as well as noncommunicable diseases. Besides the pandemic measures, there was a diversion of focus of the already established healthcare services away from the chronic conditions and vaccinations. The disruption of the vaccination services may have more severe short and long-term consequences than the pandemic’s adverse effects.
CONCLUSION
Severely restricted resources limited the interaction of the Indian healthcare system with the COVID-19 pandemic. Re-establishment of primary healthcare services, maternal and child health services, noncommunicable diseases programs, National Tuberculosis Elimination Program, etc. are important to prevent serious long-term consequences of this pandemic.
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