Mumbai, May 12 (IANS): As the second wave of Covid-19 cripples the Indian healthcare system with hospitals running out of beds and oxygen supply, a report by Housing.com shows that when it comes to health infrastructure, Pune is the most equipped city in India, although, with just 3.5 hospital beds per 1,000 people.

This in fact is much higher when compared to India's national average 1.4 available beds per 1,000 people, including both public and private sector hospitals, showed the report by the Elara Technologies-owned online realty firm.

Titled 'State of Healthcare in India - Indian cities through the lens of healthcare', the report ranks health infrastructure in the country's most urbanised eight cities -- Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai (MMR) and Pune through its Housing.com's 'City Health Card'.

The top-ranked city Pune also scored significantly high on parameters such as ease of living, water quality and also performance and sustainable initiatives taken by its local government, it said.

These rankings are benchmarked against parameters such as number of hospital beds, air quality, water quality, sanitation, liveability index, among others.

Mani Rangarajan, Group COO of Housing.com said: "India, which is the third-largest economy in Asia, needs to significantly increase its spending on healthcare. This has been made eminently clear as the country is currently struggling to keep its people safe from the ongoing second wave of the coronavirus pandemic."

"As the second most populous country in the world with over 1.3 billion people, India also has to focus on building quality healthcare infrastructure and economically develop itself in such a way that its overall infrastructure is preventive against health risks. Here, one is also forced to acknowledge how crucial quality housing is, in reducing health risks."

With nearly 3.2 hospital beds per 1,000 people, Ahmedabad is ranked second in the list while India's 'Silicon Valley', Bengaluru is ranked third, despite a high number of hospital beds per 1,000 people and its top ranking in the ease of living index, as parameters such as air quality, water quality and availability, and municipal performance index pull down the city's rank.

The Delhi-National Capital Region, which covers the national capital, Gurugram, Faridabad, Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad, was ranked the lowest in the list, primarily because of the region's poor scores on air and water quality, sanitation and performance of municipal bodies.

"The density of hospitals is lower in Ghaziabad and Greater Noida regions compared to Gurugram, Noida and Faridabad which also have higher levels of service sectors, warehousing and manufacturing activity," said the report.

India's financial capital Mumbai and its metropolitan region--- also the largest residential real estate market in the country with a transactional value of $2.5 billion in the first quarter of 2021 ---- were ranked fourth on the Housing.com City Health Card, with parameters such as the number of beds, air quality, and liveability pulling its overall score down.

Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata held the fifth, sixth and seventh positions, respectively.