It has already been a year from the time the world was shaken up by the Pandemic caused by Wuhan Virus or what we know as the Covid19. Over the period of last year plus, we saw various variants impacting various geographies, but the most startling one has been reported from India with double mutation or what some are referring to be as Triple mutation variant. This variant has caused havoc in India and has opened up can of worms highlighting the inefficiencies in the system. Starting from the Black Marketing of Oxygen and Ramdesivir among other medicines to the point of unavailability of beds in the hospitals. People are dying on the road post the rapid infection and resulting impacts. The big questions here are – Why Did System Fail? and What can we do?
Stepping up to what I feel is the main reason for system to fail is rampant misdemeanor on part of the Healthcare Vertical in India. Starting from the ground level to the top, everyone indulged in exchanging blame games when it was not part of the war against Covid. The main aspect here is for all the cadres responsible to manage Healthcare facilities including Government machinery to the Hospital Management to the ground level employees of these establishment. What they are supposed to be doing in ensuring that right from Case reporting to Case management to case closure, everything should be seamless. But what grapevines suggest is that the hospital beds are up for sale rather than made available to the needy people. There are fake occupants registered and on whose name the medicines are being allocated. If we believe the grapevine, it is highly alarming and Government as well as Law enforcement needs to intervene immediately and get things straighten out.
Adding to the streamlining mismanagement in the overall Healthcare segment, Government also needs to step up better coordination between the Central Government and State Government machineries to put aside Political ideologies and work together to resolve the standoffs due to high rate of infections and increasingly stressed healthcare situation.
Coming to the second point in where our points start on “What can we do?”. to this effect the first thing we as citizens need to do is to bring in discipline in our approach towards following government guidelines. Social Distancing, Masking (Preferably Double Mask), Sanitizing and Washing hands, Avoiding Social Gathering, Not hoarding medicine and Oxygen supplies etc are to be strictly followed. Any lockdown should not result in Government Crackdown as being heard from various quarters. Do NOT head to the media blabbering in opposition of the Government or the Government Officials as this is not the time to spew venom or spread hate. There always is one or other MEME that we come across highlighting the negative aspects and failures of Government, but is Government a real failure or is it that failure on OUR part has stressed out the facilities? Aren’t we equally responsible for stressing the weak healthcare infrastructure and also give a chance to the Black Marketers to be able to escalate the prices of medical supplies?
Another aspect that I have been following and will suggest everyone to follow is “Charity”. Right now we all need to forget the Caste, Creed, Religion and other differences we have among ourselves and be joined at the hips to work together to donate/help those who need it most. In these torrid times, Charity is Religion (दान धर्म का पालन करें) and we should follow this diligently. We should rise above “What will I get” and say “I will help the society”. If you are confused on how to and where to start from, then first have a strong will power to help. Once you have the will power, path will be automatically created. You need not work with any NGO, you can join hands with like minded individuals from around you, influence your peer group and there you can start your own group. My favorite lines to this are –
“अकेला चला था पथ पर मैं, राहगिर मिलते गए कारवाँ बनता गया,
पथिक नहीं रहा अब मैं अकेला, एक परिवार सा बंधन बनता गया
सोचा ना था कभी ऐसा, डरता था मैं पहल करने से
लेकिन एक बार साहस क्या की, अब डार नहीं अकेले चलने से”
