Thanks to the High Court intervention, oxygen management and logistics were undertaken on a war footing on Friday even as 13 more Covid patients died during ‘dark hours’ of Thursday night at GMC.
In a status report submitted to the court, the government listed eight steps it had taken: Eight expert tractor drivers hired from Kolhapur, a liquid medical oxygen tank being installed which is expected to be operationalised by Monday, arrangements made to refill oxygen cylinders for home use, two dura cylinders installed, oxygen supplies enhanced, oxygen concentrators distributed, enhanced oxygen allocation sought from the centre and finally ambulance and hearse van rates caped. Work that ignored during over-one-year of the pandemic, has been undertaken in one day.
It took the judiciary to get all of this going in just one day. With a slew of positive measures in place, we hope the confidence of the patients will be restored sooner. The question that we ask again is whether courts need to step in to knock sense into mismanagement and failures? Are courts the last resort for the common man in times of distress?
But herein are bigger questions: What kind of state-of-the-art healthcare were we boasting about when all we could do is helplessly watch people die for lack of oxygen for over straight eight days? Why did the health minister fail to augment basic resources while talking about super-speciality blocks, imported ventilators and private medical colleges?
The fact that gaping holes are now being plugged only goes to show that there is a fundamental failure of the government of the day in protecting its citizens. It only acted now because the Damocles sword was hanging. Other failures have escaped the glare, like people struggling with non-working oximeters, and GMC pharmacies running out of life-saving drugs. This is not acceptable in a pandemic. Governments have to take a pro-active decision in the larger interest of their people.
On Friday, registration slots for the much-awaited vaccinations for the 18+ age group closed within minutes of opening, leaving a large section of youth disappointed. With the death toll rising and the news of an impending third wave that is to target youth doing its rounds, there is panic in the air. At this juncture, the State holds over 2.5 lakh surplus doses of Covishield vaccine, and it would make better sense in leveraging the available doses. It makes little sense in halting the vaccination for the lower age group, especially since the Centre has assured to supply 19 million doses to States for free.
What is baffling to understand is the gap between the two doses continues to increase. It is now 12 to 16 weeks, surprisingly against the backdrop of governments backing a piece of statistics that people who have taken both doses are likely to be insulated against the ferocity of the virus. Upholding this theory, why would any government want to extend the period between the two doses?
