India needs significant rise in healthcare infra: Report

New Delhi Pune is ranked first while Delhi-NCR is at the lowest position among eight major cities in health infrastructure-related parameters, including number of hospitals beds, air-water quality and sanitation, according to a report by Housing.com.

The real estate portal, which is owned by US-based News Corp and its Australian group firm REA, on Wednesday released its report titled 'State of Healthcare in India'. The report ranks health infrastructure in India's most urbanised eight cities - Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai Metropolitan Region(MMR) and Pune - on the basis of Housing.com's City Health Card.

These rankings are benchmarked against parameters such as number of hospital beds per 1,000 people, air quality, water quality, sanitation, liveability index and 40 per cent weightage has been given to number of hospital beds.

"When it comes to health infrastructure, Pune is the most equipped city in India, offering 3.5 hospital beds per 1,000 people," Housing.com said. This is much higher when compared to India's national average. In the public healthcare system, only half a bed and 1.4 beds are available if we count public plus private hospital beds available per 1,000 people in India, the report said.