What went wrong in handling COVID19?
The entire world is talking about the difficult situation which India is going through. The health system in India has collapsed. Insufficient medical equipment’s has increased the mortality rate. The government is airlifting oxygen cylinders ,Indian railways delivering liquid oxygen in this heat of moment. Honorable dignities Mr. Mukesh Ambani and Mr. Ratan Tata have set up oxygen plants to cope up with the surge in demand ,but still we are not able to suffice the needs.The hard reality is manufacturing/import is not in line with demand.
The entire world has come together to support India in this pandemic crisis. With few facts stated below.
India is overwhelmed with gratitude to receive a huge quantity of oxygen concentrators, masks,gloves,Bipaps,cryogenic oxyegne containers, Remdesveir,ventilators and mobile field hospitals.In this we are lacking in quantity. All the patients and their relatives were in shock when the doctors said we donot have supply of Remdesvier you need to arrange.There was too much of helplessness and hussle bussle all round. Though things came back to normal but it was a utter moment of shame when people were begging for hospital beds,oxygen cylinders, ventialtors and injections.
What went wrong in the governance?
Overconfidence: There were several warnings that second wave of COVID will come but still we did not bother. Before hitting India it had affected US and Europe They were in complete lockdown and handled situation wisely, still our eyes did not open. We were so overconfident that we ignored those facts.
Negligence: Despite of analyzing the situation in our neighboring countries. There was negligence on individual and government level. People took it lightly seeking it will be the same as last year and now we are trained to handle such situation. People stopped using sanitiser masks and became very normal travelling to gathering or going on holidays. On the level of families a single negligence affects the entire family.
Reality Check: Last year government had prepared a lot of jumbo COVID wards with all facilities but they were discarded soon but this time everyone was prepared that we will keep everyone in home quarantine and the problem will be solved. We everyone got a reality check when this virus changed its symptoms and started affecting lungs drastically. The fall in oxygen levels led to deluge in need in oxygen cylinders and ventilators. But before we could realize many of them lost their lives to COVID.
Health system: We can spend crores of rupees on construction of statues, hospitality, political rallies and inaugurations. But we never have separate funding for health equipment’s. We are always happy importing them and not manufacturing them. The challenges, lie in this we still depend on import. Medical technology market is multi trillion dollar market but India is hardly a part of it. Currently India still imports 80% of medical devices So we need to really look at Make in India and start making these devices, currently we are still importing stethoscopes and glucometers, even basic devices, MRI scanners and CT scanners we have been importing. Mostly these all coming from China though even the large companies like GE, Siemens, Phillips, the devices which are sold in India are all coming from China. We need to motivate for make in India project or it will be worse in future.
Lack Of Planning: This virus took a toll on health and health systems so badly that it didnot give us time to plan things. As we are not manufacturing these devices, in order to import these systems tenders by government were floated one two weeks back and to buy the item and get it delivered will again takes months time. Is the lives of people going to wait till tender being released ,order received, payment made, delivery done and installation made successfully.
Hard reality: We missed the most important point that lives are important and for lives health system and health system health capabilities are required.Shouting on the voice that India has achieved these competences neglecting health system is not going to favor us in any way. We need to learn from all the countries how they are investing in health sectors and serving their citizens with best of their capabilities.
#circleofhope #helplessnesss #disappointment #blessings
It is scary and feels like we have stepped back at times. I agree outsourcing because cheaper labour and material has proven unwise (to say the least). First wave we scrambled for PPE as the whole world was looking for it and none of it made at home. Hoping wake up call we have to work and think smarter. What can we do at home and have control over? Situation in India awful and I feel for everyone. You and your family take care
Thank you so much.hoping this comes out as an eye opener for everyone.🙌