As the smoke of countless funeral pyres darkens the cloud above our city, aid has arrived for the rescue of thousands and thousands of people lying in the corridor of infirmary fighting for a breath.
This Covid has proved itself way much fatal since the plague hit India in the previous centuries. Not only India but globally many countries are fighting the 2nd and 3rd wave of Covid. India became the prime rescuer when at the beginning it supplied drugs hydroxychloroquine to United States, Pakistan, Bangladesh and many more in line. Then coming to the vaccine; Covaxin to Myanmar, Bangladesh, Brazil etc., worth 108 million dollars between January and March all together.
Now we look towards are neighbours for clemency. Gentleness, equanimity and benevolence has always been the major Principle of our country so putting a question mark on this assistance can go against our country’s theory.
In the last few days India received many assistance around the globe with oxygen, ventilation system, vaccines and many other medications but the main interrogation arises here is how our government and their subordinates will be distributing these commodities to the needy.
Lately we saw our medication system falling to the ground when they started going out of even oxygen and the result what we saw was tremendously awful. Our citizens died on roads, in the hospital corridors; some from even worse deaths which is hard to spell out.
Election rallies, wedding processions, gatherings haven’t stopped yet despite seeing all this catastrophic failure of our health system. Strictly speaking, some of us are at fault by not following the guidelines of the government and the very main thing staying indoors.
Conventional wisdom in India has it that wearing a mask only works when it is imposed as a police measure, with fines and punishments for non-compliance. Mask wearing and social distancing cannot be sustained through lathis. Public health measures that work best are those that the public voluntarily adopts because they see it as being in their best interests. It’s very regretful to see India’s cremation grounds making headlines in the international media where they question our whole country’s regulation. Legitimately, this non- success was expected but not at this magnitude where a 85 year old man is giving up his bed for a 25 year old man phrasing “I’ve lived enough but not you.”
Even if the medications are given to us, we have to obey the orders of the government then only we could receive any fruitful result. Lockdown is one of the measures for overcoming this virus as proved by Israel and United Kingdom by imposing full strict lockdown, but we cannot compare our problems with them because India is many steps backward from these countries in terms of economy where another full-fledged lockdown isn’t an option. Communication at this level of community transmission is the key to getting people to protect themselves this way. People need to be explained the reasons for mask-wearing as well as the right way to wear a mask. Imaginative and creative communication campaigns are essential. And yet again, illiteracy has become a hindrance towards preventing this virus. Though now is not the time to talk about our education system, our government certainly needs to pay heed to this matter as soon as we get over this virus.
Denials about the scale of the problem is also a misguided policy of our government where bureaucrats, senior lawyers insist there is no shortage of oxygen, hospital beds etc. even though we can plainly see that there is a scarcity. We soberly need to understand that this wave of Coronavirus is no joke and the time has come where we need to buckle up the seat belt and look forward for vanquishing this virus. Currently India is reporting 3000 cases every day. Yes, we lacked in assistance, yes, we could have been better, we had time of six months but we didn’t do anything.
Now is not the time to look backward but to move forward and save our nationals who are still fighting for their existence.
