Failure of the people, for the people, and by the people
On the 7th of May 2021, India reported 4,01,078 cases of COVID-19 infections and 4,187 people lost their lives to the pandemic. The situation in many parts of the country seems very unhealthy. Looking at these numbers, I have only one question in my mind. Where did we go wrong?
The Government:
When it is very natural for every pandemic to have a second wave, why was not the government be prepared for the same when it had enough time to be prepared. We were alerted by the second waves that hit Great Britain and many other countries. The Health Minister on the other hand declared the end of the pandemic in India. We started conducting election rallies without following any COVID protocols. Not to mention other religious festivals.
The government doesn’t seem to be conducting any research on the mutations and variants that are currently prevailing in the country. Now, why is it important? This helps the government to find out whether the new mutants are more dangerous in their ability to spread or symptoms that they could cause and the effectiveness of the vaccines towards the new variants. This could have helped detect clusters and contain the spread to other parts of the country. This also poses a threat to the world.
The Government’s vaccine program is a complete disaster. If you think, it’s an exaggeration then you are wrong. The government without any plan or adequate stock of the vaccines declared that it will start vaccinating people above the age of 18 years. When the day arrived and when people went to the centers to get the vaccines, they were all turned back. The government shipped around 66 million doses of vaccines to other countries. The move is welcoming but the government should have considered vaccinating people of its own house first before showing their “Friendship” to other nations. As of 7th May 2021, only 2.4% of the country’s population has been vaccinated. The government still does not seem to have a proper plan to vaccinate its people.
The second wave has sparked the discussion on our health care system. The rise in death can be attributed to the lack of supply of medical oxygen in the country. Almost 70 years of Independence, our health care system is inefficient to handle a sudden influx of people with severe infections. Again the government is slow in its process of creating beds and ventilators for its people. Not that India has a deficiency of medical oxygen. Between April 2020 and January 2021, India exported 9,301 metric tones of oxygen across the world, earning Rs. 8.9 crore from the trade. (Source: Business Today). The issue is not in its production but the supply of oxygen to different parts of the country.
Instead of creating a nationwide plan for vaccination and containment of the spread, The central government stepped out of its responsibility and asked the states to take matters into their hands. The IMA has been suggesting a shut down of the nation for 14 days and the Centre seems to be not even listening to these institutions. The Supreme court has started doing the work that our journalists should be doing which is asking questions. I have another question. What happened to the PM cares funds?
The People:
When the government asked us to wear a mask and practice social distancing, Did we care? When the government insisted on getting the jabs, Did we care?
In my conversation with the people who did not wear a mask properly, I got an answer that infuriated me. They said, “I won’t get the virus, even if I get it nothing will happen to me”. Yes, You may be very powerful but understand unless you get vaccinated you still can spread the virus to other people. The major cause of the second wave should be attributed to people and their reluctance to follow expert advice. The people have a carelessness still now despite our hospitals flooding with stretchers and our pyres burning endlessly.
The new expert advice is to double mask. Now, people have also started showing reluctance for this also. It is said by the experts that a double mask is more than 95% effective in preventing infections. The second wave will come to an end only if we start following medical advice and be careful and cautious. Until then, we need to go for lockdowns and shutdowns.
I have attached below a link on how to double mask.
