Is India Ready to Address COVID-19 Like Pandemics: A Perspective From Existing Public Health Acts

Abstract

Background: There were three influenza pandemics during the 20th century (in 1918, 1957 and 1968)
before 2019 the first of which killed at least 40 million people worldwide, exceeding the 8.3 million
military deaths during World War I. Novel Coronavirus Outbreak (COVID-19) pandemic was a call for
immediate action to be taken on by all countries in terms of stepping up treatment, detection, and reduction
of transmission. Objectives: To review various existing public health acts in India. Methodology: The
existing public health acts in the country was reviewed thoroughly from various sources and a summary
was formed after review. Feedback about the existing public health acts from experts of different fields
was also sought and incorporated into the review and finally components for a model public health act was
summarized. Conclusion: The Pandemic responses would require strong community engagement using
trusted individuals, inter-sectoral collaboration, the involvement of private health care providers, build on
existing disease surveillance systems, and link with India’s existing crisis management frameworks.