Does Robust Health Infrastructure Alone Mitigate a Pandemic? Comparison of Health Systems and the Pandemic Mitigation in 2020 in Three Indian States

Abstract

The breakout of the Covid-19 global pandemic in India since March 2020 devastated 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 availability 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 proactive mitigation strategy.