Let’s fight Covid crisis calmly & collectively

In Haryana, the official figure for Covid-related deaths in Rohtak district is 267, whereas there have been more than 40 deaths in a single village, Titoli, in a fortnight. Reports in other journals and opinions of several independent experts testify to the discrepancies and distortions in the official figures of deaths. The shifting stance of the government in the courts, the media and the public discourse about Covid-related aspects add to the pain and anguish. The people are shaken by the deaths, disease, dearth and deprivation.

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The catastrophic second wave of Covid-19 is surging ahead at an alarming pace like a tsunami and has engulfed the entire country. More than four lakh people have tested positive in a single day! Thousands are dying every day for the want of oxygen, medicines, drugs, vaccines and hospital beds etc.

The Allahabad High Court has observed that “death of Covid patients just for non-supplying of oxygen to the hospitals is a criminal act and not less than a genocide” by those responsible for the supply of medical oxygen. Nothing more needs to be added. The second surge of this pandemic has unmasked the ‘saints and swines’ simultaneously.

Let us leave all this behind, no blame game, no politics, no panic, too. It can be left to the future to arbitrate whose insensitivity or incompetence, mistake or misdeed, had failed or faltered us.

For the present, we are to face this horrendous reality collectively, calmly and concertedly. Now, all our efforts, all our emotions, all our knowledge and all our resources should be centered and concentrated on saving the lives of our people. Staying alive should be our only motto.

As a first step to combat Covid comprehensively and credibly, it needs to be acknowledged and accepted that truth, transparency and trust — the hallmarks of good governance — are no less important than testing, tracing and treating the virus. Hiding the facts, fudging the figures deliberately by the government to avoid criticism is the root cause of all evils. It not only hampers the preparedness but also shakes the trust of the people in the government.

Like respect, trust also has to be earned. It is public trust on which the edifice of governance and institutions rests. Moreover, the people cannot be protected by telling lies or creating illusions. For example, as per a report published in a newspaper (April 16, 2021), the official death toll in the Gujarat government’s health bulletin was 78, but 689 bodies were either cremated or buried following Covid protocols. The trend and tendency of undercounting the deaths prevails in all states.

In Haryana, the official figure for Covid-related deaths so far in Rohtak district is 267, whereas there have been more than 40 deaths in a single village, Titoli, in a fortnight. Reports in other journals and opinions of several independent experts testify to the discrepancies and distortions in the official figures of deaths.

The shifting stance of the government in the courts, the media and the public discourse about Covid-related aspects add to the pain and anguish. The people are shaken by the deaths, disease, dearth and deprivation.

The second wave of Covid-19 differs from the first wave in two main aspects. One, its speed, spread and penetration is much more than that of last year. This time, it has reached rural areas, which have neither the medical infrastructure nor preparedness to handle the pandemic. Two, the patients infected by this variant of the virus need more oxygen and hospitalisation, which are inadequate.

Haryana has only 43 dedicated Covid hospitals (of which only 12 are government institutions). They are equipped with 3,397 isolation beds, 602 ICU beds and 263 ventilators for a total of 1,15,842 active Covid patients. Therefore, the healthcare system has crumbled and collapsed.

This is a huge crisis and this government cannot handle it on its own. We desperately need an accountable framework for healthcare administration.

For that purpose, I suggest:

• A small high-powered task force consisting of doctors, judges, administrators, health management experts, social activists of proven integrity and competence should be assigned the responsibility to fight the battle against Covid-19. The government may facilitate and evaluate its performance with no unnecessary intervention.
• Many temporary hospitals and Covid care centres should be set up, particularly in rural areas, on the lines of gurdwaras and Nirankari Missions. All other religious, social bodies may be roped in to increase the capacity of health centres to cope with the pressure and demand.
• There should be an equitable vaccine policy and vaccination should be made universal and free. Its pricing should be rational and cheap.
• The healthcare policy should be altered for a curative and preventive approach.
• Urgent efforts should be made to overcome the shortage of oxygen, medicines, drugs and medical staff.
• As a gesture of gratitude to the Covid warriors, ie doctors, nursing staff, police, sanitation workers and all other concerned with the fight against the pandemic, they be incentivised in every respect.

In the end and in essence, to quote Viktor Frankl, “The world is in a bad state, but everything will become still worse unless each of us does his best.”