Half of India's states do not have a district hospital in each district

Delhi and Kerala have 3 district hospitals per district; Uttar Pradesh has two. Telangana has one hospital for five districts

The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the frailties in India’s health system. The country had a woeful shortage of doctors, nurses and beds. Even in the metros, the medical infrastructure could not keep pace with the rising caseload.

While the new Indian Public Health Standard guidelines announced last week aim to plug the infrastructure gaps, an analysis by Business Standard shows that states lag far behind. Data from Rural Health Statistics shows that half the states in the country do not have a district hospital in each district—one of the parameters of the new guidelines is one district hospital per district.

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