VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh has ‘saved the most lives’ by restricting the number of Covid-19 deaths after Kerala and Telangana in the country, according to the Economic Survey 2021 tabled in Parliament on Friday.
The survey stated that imposing ‘the most stringent lockdown’ at the very onset of the pandemic enabled flattening of the Covid curve and thereby provided time to ramp up the health and testing infrastructure in the State.
“By estimating the natural number of cases and deaths expected across countries based on their population, population density, demographics, tests conducted, and the health infrastructure, we compare these estimates with actual numbers to show that India restricted the Covid-19 spread by 37 lakh cases and saved more than 1 lakh lives. Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Bihar have restricted the case spread the best; Kerala, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have saved the most lives; Maharashtra has under-performed the most in restricting the spread of cases and in saving lives,” the survey’s first chapter titled ‘Saving Lives and Livelihoods Amidst a Once-in-a-Century Crisis’ noted.
While the State figured lower in the actual cases vis-a-vis naturally expected, the survey noted Kerala, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh have “managed it effectively” in terms of deaths based on the difference between estimated and actual deaths (in units of hundreds), which was lower in the three States.
As of Friday, AP reported 7,152 deaths, 8.87 lakh cases with just 1,308 active. The first case in the State was reported on March 12, 2020 and the first death on April 3, 2020.
It may be noted that the State, which had no testing facilities, ramped up the health infrastructure and established 150 testing laboratories, including private, TrueNat labs by June 2020 and had decentralised the testing, tracing, treating and community surveillance systems by utilising the services of village/ward volunteers. In fact, it had also constituted a committee to study the factors causing death and to suggest ways to bring down the mortality rate.
The Economic Survey also noted that AP is better off than other States in distribution of health workforce, especially doctors, nurses and midwives. “Although aggregate human resources for health density in India is close to the lower threshold of 23 (per 10,000 population), the distribution of health workforce across States is lop-sided. Also, the skill mix (doctor/nurse-midwives ratio) is far from adequate. State-level variations in the density of health workers and the skill mix reflect that while Kerala and Jammu and Kashmir have a high density of doctors, States like Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have a larger number of nurses and midwives but a very low density of doctors. AP, Delhi and Tamil Nadu reflect a better balance of doctors, nurses and midwives,” the survey noted.
Kerala stands first with a density of 65, followed by Delhi (41), North Eastern States (34), Uttarakhand (33), Tamil Nadu (32), AP (30), Jammu and Kashmir (29), Telangana (26) and West Bengal (24).
AP is also one among 13 States that has shown improvement in access to bare necessities in 2018 vis-a-vis 2012. The drinking water access to households in most States improved in 2018 compared to 2012, except in AP. “Odisha, Jharkhand and AP are at the bottom on the drinking water accessibility index,” the report added.
‘AP better off in distribution of health workforce’
The Economic Survey noted that Andhra Pradesh is better off than other States in distribution of health workforce, especially doctors, nurses and midwives. Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Tamil Nadu reflect a better balance of doctors, nurses and midwives per 10,000 population