> What kind of loose argument is this? It is well known that India has as much as 6 times lesser number of hospital beds per capita than Italy, which is in serious trouble.
Because no one takes a pandemic into account while building hospitals. The idea is not about how many hospital beds exist per capita. It is about ability to mobilize in case a requirement of this sort arises. Did China not build makeshift hospitals in record time when the number of beds were low? If the need arises it will be done so in India as well. India has shown that it is serious in the way it responded to rescuing Citizens stuck abroad in infected areas. That gives me confidence that the Government can be tackle it if situation arises. Until then we are still in Stage 2 of the pandemic. We don't need to worry about expanding capacity at least for now. Just having a high number of hospital beds per capita is a waste of energy, resources and money unless there is a real requirement for it. If we hit Stage 3 then yes we can expand the numbers proportional to what is required. If you truly believe that India is incapable of doing that then you grossly underestimate India my friend. We have constructed highways[1], tunnels[2], 10 floor buildings[3] and stadiums[4] in record time. Building makeshift hospitals is not out of reach.
[1]: https://www.livemint.com/Industry/9lKbWFYnxLTf1QSIa6z18M/Nat...
[2]: https://www.theweek.in/news/india/2019/07/08/longest-electri...
[3]: https://www.rediff.com/business/report/indias-fastest-constr...
[4]: https://www.business-standard.com/article/sports/motera-stad...
> What? Democracy has nothing to do with hiding information. Case in point: Aftermath of repealing Article 370, or lack of transparency on the Pulwama attack, or conscripted proof of current PM's educational qualifications. The list goes on.
Democracy has everything to do with dissemination of information. All of the issues you mentioned have been discussed thread-bare in the media and in the courts. Try doing the same in China and then get back here (if you survive the authoritarian regime that is). Heck in China all whistleblowers on Coronavirus have but disappeared. The doctor who first exposed Coronavirus in China died. The numbers coming out of China for 2 months was pretty much the same with many doubting if those numbers were fudged. Let us be a bit realistic shall we?
> Uh huh. How about we stop passing non-expert opinions as facts starting with this thread right here?
Yes I am a non-expert. Whatever I put out are not my opinions but opinions of WHO representatives when it comes to India's handling of Coronavirus and UNICEF that lauded India for how it tackled Japanese Encephalitis. If you believe these are not facts then you can question the representatives of these International bodies. If at all, I should turn around and ask you to stop passing around non-expert opinions as absolute truth when all you are doing is nothing but indulge in fear-mongering.
> Non sequitur, my friend. The diseases are different. The agent is different. This whole thing is different to anything the world has seen since the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic.
I was talking about the ability to handle the situation as opposed to the disease itself. You are unable to comprehend what I wrote and in what context. It shows in your emotional response. As far as pandemics are concerned India has already been through one: The 2016 H1N1 Influenza pandemic in India (42,592 swine flu cases were confirmed, of which resulted in 2,992 deaths). We have taken experience from that already.
> That's your opinion. Speaking of which, the doctors on the frontline of this don't seem to be as optimistic as you are: https://www.reddit.com/r/india/comments/fk649f/hi_im_dr_rosh....
Sorry to say but I give more importance to the statements of the WHO representative than a doctor who conducted an AMA on Reddit. The reason being that mobilization of resources happens from the Center. It all depends on how proactive the Government is in such situations. A doctor can give his opinions on current circumstances that he sees around him but cannot foresee policy measures taken by the Government during a health emergency like this which will have a pan-India impact. If the WHO representative is confident of the direction the Country is headed in tackling the emergency then I have faith in his statements. Beyond that it is all speculations and fear mongering at this point.