Context: Recently, the real estate portal, which is owned by US-based News Corp and its Australian group firm REA, has released its report titled ‘State of Healthcare in India’.
Key Highlights

• The report ranks health infrastructure in India’s most urbanised eight cities on the basis of Housing.com’s City Health Card.
• The eight cities are Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Pune.
• These rankings are benchmarked against parameters such as number of hospital beds per 1,000 people, air quality, water quality, sanitation and liveability index.

40 per cent weightage has been given to number of hospital beds.

• In the public healthcare system, only half a bed and 1.4 beds are available if we count public plus private hospital beds available per 1,000 people in India. 
• India also has the lowest number of doctors (0.86) per 1,000 people while other major economies have between 2-4 doctors per 1,000 people.

Performance of Cities under State of Healthcare in India Report

• Pune is ranked first while Delhi-NCR is at the lowest position among eight major cities in health infrastructure-related parameters.
• Pune is the most equipped city in India, offering 3.5 hospital beds per 1,000 people.
• The top-ranked city Pune also scored significantly high on parameters such as ease of living, water quality, and performance and sustainable initiatives taken by its local government.
• Bengaluru is ranked third despite a high number of hospital beds per 1,000 people and its top ranking in the ease of living index.
• The city’s score on parameters such as air quality, water quality and availability, and municipal performance index pulled down its ranking.
• Delhi-NCR, which covers the national capital, Gurugram, Faridabad, Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad, was ranked the lowest in the list.
• It is primarily because of the region’s poor scores on air and water quality, sanitation and performance of municipal bodies.
• The density of hospitals is lower in Ghaziabad and Greater Noida regions compared to Gurugram, Noida and Faridabad.
• Mumbai Metropolitan Region ranks fourth on the Housing.com’s City Health Card, with parameters such as the number of beds, air quality, and liveability pulling its overall score down.
• Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata occupy the fifth, sixth and seventh positions, respectively.

Recommendations under the report

• India, which is the third-largest economy in Asia, needs to significantly increase its spending on healthcare.
• India needs to focus on building quality healthcare infrastructure.
• The states should come up with more reformative measures to ensure a larger number of its citizens are able to afford housing, which acts as a preventive measure against health risks.