NEW DELHI : The covid-19 crisis has brought to light insufficient focus on core public health functions such as disease surveillance and testing, the final report of the 15th Finance Commission of India, tabled in Parliament on Monday, pointed out.
The report highlighted critical gaps in health infrastructure like sub-centres, primary health centres (PHCs), community health centres (CHCs) and human resource for health like doctors, nurses and paramedics.There are shortcomings in the quality of care, despite improvement in access; inadequate attention to urban health systems and the role of municipalities, which have a key role to play in public health, including air and water pollution, road traffic injuries and pandemic-related.