By N K Narang
9999272777
There is a lot of depressing news circulating on the social media as well as on television right now. This makes one wonder whether the current situation was, in fact, avoidable. Just a few weeks back, the low infection rates and the speed with which vaccinations were being carried out in India were drawing praise from all quarters. And then, all hell broke loose.
What went wrong? It is definitely not any one single factor. The reasons could, inter-alia, include Covid fatigue, complacency, post-vaccination bravado, change in government priorities – both at the state as well as the central level, denial of risk of a second wave, mutation of the virus into a more potent form and above all, the avoidable public congregations – whether religious, political or social. Either which way we look at it; it appears to be e a situation that we as citizens of this country have brought upon us.
True, that a significantly large part of the population earns the minimum wage or even less and needs to go out for work daily and as such carries a much higher risk of exposure unlike a large work force which has the option of working from home. Those who need to necessarily go out for work every day probably got into a sense of complacency on account of a significant decrease in the number of cases in the September 2020 to March 2021 period and the much talked about herd immunity which has failed them totally thereafter. Add to this the fatigue that set in over the last one year resulting in dilution of the protocol to be followed to ensure complete end to the virus in the country.
The biggest problem that we face is the large population and consequently the high population density in most of the urban centres. Not surprisingly therefore, the major cities in almost all states took the maximum brunt of the second corona wave which came back in a much more virulent and potent form. The entire health infrastructure lay in shambles as the number of patients requiring hospitalization kept on increasing. There are no hospital beds available today let alone the ICU or the oxygen and critical care beds. There is a wise spread shortage of oxygen as well as prescription drugs being faced by those in need. Despite full information dissemination, and repeated requests to the citizens to follow the protocols, the number of cases keeps on rising. The administration is caught between enforcing the protocols, providing healthcare and support, maintaining lively-hood while facing political blame game.
But could this situation not have been foreseen? Most of the countries in Europe saw a second wave and we got a long period to prepare for it. Instead of bolstering up the required health infrastructure and facilities, those that were created during the first wave were dismantled in a hurry and now we are scurrying to re-create them. While we should have devoted a fair amount of effort and resources to adding ventilators, hospital beds and other health care facilities; elections, religious congregations and social events began to take precedence. Well, one could argue that these statements look good in hind sight, but isn’t the government required to plan in advance keeping various scenarios in view and execute accordingly. In case the actions of the government / administration were well thought out and the current spread is despite all diligent efforts, then probably the trust of the citizens is mis-placed.
At the end of the day, one needs to fend for oneself and the large number of messages on whatsapp and through other social media channels requesting help for hospital beds, oxygen or Remdisivir are testimony of a collective failure. There is no easy way out of this situation. We need to protect ourselves like never before and stay at home. If going out is unavoidable, please ensure that the appropriate masks are in place, distance is maintained and hands kept sanitised with no touching of face.
Let us not lose the match by forcing a self-goal.
The writer is a freelance consultant in legal and financial areas with experience of over forty years in corporate finance.
