Covid shows medical community can do wonders

The World Health Organisation, on May 5, 2023, declared that Covid-19 was no longer a public health emergency of international concern. In simpler terms, Covid-19 has become like any other endemic disease. Covid-19 had swept across continents in many waves, affecting over 76 crore people and causing close to 70 lakh deaths. India has had 5.3 lakh deaths and nearly 4.5 crore infections. India saw over 4 lakh cases a day during the peak of the second wave in May 2021. The staggering death toll across nations was termed as “both a profound tragedy and a massive global failure at multiple levels” by the Lancet Commission on lessons for the future from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Some of the failures identified by the commission were the lack of timely notification of the initial outbreak of cases, delay in acknowledging the crucial airborne exposure pathway of the virus, the failure of governments to cooperate and adopt uniform best practices for controlling the pandemic, shortfall in funding, inequitable distribution of vaccines and failure to combat disinformation.

With cases down to a few thousand a day in India in May 2023, people have moved on to normal life. But the virus is here to stay. It will continue to cause sporadic illness, which could be troublesome in vulnerable persons. As pointed out by experts, it will be left to individuals to take preventive measures. The coming months and years will tell us if periodic vaccination is required for new strains or not.

The biggest lesson from Covid-19 is that if the medical community works in unison, it can do wonders. It took less than a year after the genome of the novel coronavirus was deciphered for the first vaccine to be available for use. It used to take years to make a vaccine earlier; the fastest vaccine — the mumps vaccine — had taken four years to develop. The United Kingdom government’s Vaccine Taskforce, the Operation Warp Speed of the USA and the European Union, all invested heavily with liberal funding, with scientists working in different domains contributing to the development of more than one vaccine. This experience paves the way for vaccines not only against more pathogens but also cancer and heart disease.

The pandemic had exposed the inadequacies of the health infrastructure and preparedness, both in the developed world and developing nations. Media reports of long ambulance queues outside hospitals in the UK or bodies piled up in US hospitals were followed by visuals of people scampering for oxygen cylinders or crucial drugs during the second wave in Indian cities. India did respond with great determination and action. While makeshift field hospitals were set up, nearly one lakh ICU beds were created with augmentation of ventilator capacity and new oxygen plants installed. Capacity building was done from scratch for manufacturing PPEs and antigen-based and PCR-based testing for the virus. India proved its mettle in vaccine manufacturing by producing billions of doses of vaccines, including its own researched and developed vaccines.

Identifying and overcoming the inadequacies in our public healthcare sector have been the biggest takeaways from the pandemic. However, India needs to increase its healthcare spending, which currently is less than 1.5 per cent of the GDP. There is a need to ramp up health infrastructure in not only rural India but also in towns and cities.

India also established INSACOG (Indian SARS-COV-2 Genomics Consortium), a network of 54 laboratories, to monitor the genomic variations in the SARS-COV-2 virus in India to help understand viral dynamics, mortality trends, outbreaks and epidemiology of the infection and plan interventional strategies. The data generated can also be used to understand long-term complications and the duration for which the immunity lasts as well as foretell future course specific to our country. The setting up of INSACOG has reiterated the need for adopting technological advances and acknowledging the fact that investment in science is a rewarding experience.

The pandemic has also generated health awareness like never before. Apart from the ‘R’ factor, spike protein, receptors and oxygen saturation becoming household words, people now understand containment, surveillance and isolation and the importance of reporting disease. There has, indeed, been a distinct change in individual behaviour towards health. Widespread use of telemedicine, including videoconferencing, has also helped patients in getting an option to connect with specialist doctors. It can transcend distance and remoteness and transform healthcare in semi-urban and rural areas. Imagine how many lives can be saved among those who suffer a head injury, stroke, heart attack or complications of pregnancy if specialists are available in remote areas.

The other experience was with online teaching. Though it was initially hailed as a radical shift in learning, it soon led to fatigue. However, it is here to stay and if used judiciously, for example in universities, its virtues outweigh the drawbacks. Work from home has seen the pendulum swinging, but again, it can certainly be useful in many fields to cut down on overhead office expenditure.

Covid-19 has also been a great leveller in making people aware of their vulnerabilities regarding their health, irrespective of social class or economic superiority.

Though life is rapidly returning to normal, during the two years of the pandemic, health had become an overriding factor in life. Bonding with family and friends has a new meaning now. Though public memory is short and many people are back to the same old pre-Covid routine, for a lot of others, life has changed, with new priorities and focus on a healthy life, more exercise, eating right and more time with close ones.

The pandemic has shown us the importance of maintaining public health and preventing the spread of any disease. People also realised how crucial mental health is. The selfless work done by volunteers, social organisations and healthcare workers has brought up traditional Indian values of humanitarianism and charity.

Post Covid, the world should emerge wiser and safer, having learnt its lessons.