View: We must learn fast from the pandemic to fill gaps in our healthcare system SECTIONS View: We must learn fast from the pandemic to fill gaps in our healthcare systemET CONTRIBUTORS Last Updated: May 23, 2021, 11:24 PM IST Share Synopsis The entire healthcare system — the drug R&D, hospitals, personnel and GDP spending — needs an overhaul Universal healthcare must be our national goal. India’s public expenditure on health as a percentage of GDP is abysmal — about 2%. This must be raised to 5% in the current financial year. Nripendra Misra The writer is former principal secretary to the Prime Minister Covid-19 has spared none. Its scale and spread were underestimated, and beyond projections by scientific models. Criticism is in hindsight. But we need to be better equipped. The biggest gap we need to fill is our healthcare framework.