Health shocks of the year: What 2025 taught India about being unprepared

From unsafe medicines and rare infections to heatwaves and failing antibiotics, 2025 exposed why preparedness can no longer wait

In 2025, India faced a series of unsettling events, from children dying after taking cough syrups to rare brain infections making headlines, breathing problems becoming common, antibiotics failing more often, and extreme heat straining both bodies and medical resources.

 

Together, these episodes revealed not isolated mishaps but systemic vulnerabilities in how the country anticipates, detects and responds to health threats.

How did a simple cough syrup turn deadly again?

Several children died in Rajasthan, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh this year after consuming cough syrups found to be contaminated with toxic industrial chemicals, once again raising questions about drug manufacturing quality and regulatory oversight in India. Investigations pointed to lapses in testing and compliance at the production level, while families were left grappling with the consequences of medicines that should never have reached the market.

 

 

The incidents underscored persistent gaps in quality control and enforcement, despite earlier warnings and past tragedies linked to contaminated medicines.

Why did a ‘brain-eating amoeba’ suddenly terrify the nation?

Public anxiety spiked in the summer months of 2025 after rare cases of Naegleria fowleri, commonly known as a brain-eating amoeba, were reported from parts of southern India, including Kerala and Karnataka. Though the organism has long existed, a cluster of reported cases linked to exposure to warm freshwater pushed the infection into public consciousness.

 

Health experts stressed that such infections remain extremely rare, but their emergence highlighted how rising temperatures and environmental changes can create new health risks.

Why were respiratory illnesses everywhere, even outside winter?

Throughout 2025, hospitals across Delhi-NCR and other major Indian cities reported a steady rise in respiratory complaints well beyond the usual winter months. Doctors linked the trend to a combination of persistent air pollution, recurring viral infections, post-Covid lung vulnerability, and longer exposure to poor indoor air quality.

 

The spread of respiratory illness across seasons suggested that breathing problems in India are no longer episodic but increasingly chronic and year-round.

Is antibiotic resistance becoming a health emergency?

During 2025, doctors across public and private hospitals increasingly flagged cases where common antibiotics failed to work as expected, forcing the use of stronger, last-resort drugs. Health experts pointed to the long-term impact of antibiotic overuse, self-medication, incomplete treatment courses and gaps in infection control practices.

 

The trend reinforced warnings that antimicrobial resistance is no longer a future threat but an active public health emergency.

How did heatwaves expose gaps in health preparedness?

During the peak summer months of 2025, large parts of north and central India, including Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, experienced prolonged heatwaves that pushed temperatures well above seasonal norms. Hospitals reported a rise in heat-related illnesses, dehydration and worsening of chronic conditions, particularly among the elderly, outdoor workers and the urban poor.

 

The episodes highlighted how India’s health systems and cities remain ill-equipped to manage extreme heat as a growing public health risk, with limited cooling infrastructure, inadequate early-warning systems and insufficient community-level preparedness.

 

Taken together, the health shocks of 2025 showed that India’s biggest vulnerability lies not in isolated diseases, but in delayed preparedness. As doctors and public health experts warned throughout the year, reacting after crises strike is no longer enough — anticipation, regulation and prevention must move to the centre of health policy.