Challenges and Opportunities of Hospital Preparedness and Resilience Plans in India: Experience from Covid-19 Pandemic.

Abstract

 As per the United Nations, climate change and infectious diseases stand as the two most significant threats to humanity. Throughout history, novel influenza strains have repeatedly caused human pandemics, resulting in widespread illness, loss of life, and disruptions to healthcare systems. Infectious diseases have exerted a significant impact on society and humanity, including the Plague, Cholera, H5N1 influenza, SARS, and Covid-19. The Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, which erupted in China and expanded worldwide, influenced hospitals' capacity to provide treatment for patients. It caused damage to their infrastructures, such as a lack of medical supplies, personal protective equipment kits (PPE), hospital beds, drugs, oxygen supplies, and face masks. Therefore, hospitals needed to be prepared for such situations to save people's lives. In this context, the present study aims to evaluate the preparedness plans of hospitals in India against biological disasters such Covid-19 pandemic. The study provides comprehensive information on the topic, which enables the identification of the challenges that healthcare workers face. Therefore, the study tries to improve the preparedness level of the hospitals towards any future disaster.