Amidst the coronavirus outbreak, which has wreaked havoc in the country, trust in government hospitals has increased drastically, the IANS-CVoter survey revealed on May 3.

For our comprehensive coverage and latest updates on COVID-19 click here.

According to the survey conducted across the country, in 2018, merely 37.6 percent people had a "lot of trust" in government hospitals but the percentage skyrocketed to 52.8 percent this year. Similarly, people's faith in private hospitals has also increased, though marginally. In 2018, 34.1 percent of people used to trust them for treatment, but the percentage now stands at 38.2 percent, according to the survey.

This dramatic change in trust could be attributed to efforts and risk taken by medical staff to treat infected people during the outbreak. Correspondingly, the number of Indians who display lack of trust in these institutions has fallen dramatically.

In 2018, 1.6 and 41.3 percent people used to have no faith in government and private hospitals, respectively. The percentage has, however, now plummeted to 0.8 percent and 20.6 percent now. The change is visible across all geographies, income and education levels as well as caste and ethnic identities. According to the survey, females, senior citizens, those living in the southern part of the country, rural areas and belonging to lower income groups trust government hospitals more.

On the other hand, the population below 25 years of age, lower income group and those residing in western part of India and urban areas trust private hospitals for their medical treatment.