As on 17 May 2021, out of a population of 139 crore India has recorded 2.5 crore cases and 2.78 lakhs deaths. Pakistan with a population of 22.5 crore has recorded 8.80 lakh cases and deaths of 19,752. Bangladesh has a population of 16.6 crore and 7.8 lakh cases and the number of deaths due to COVID is 12,181. Likewise, Nepal with population is 2.9 crores has 4.6 lakh cases and deaths of 5,215. Sri Lankan population is 2.14 crore and has 1.45 lakh cases and 981 deaths.

As per the above figures, India recoded 1,812 cases and 20 deaths for each one lakh population. In comparison, the number of cases in Pakistan is 393 cases and 9 deaths, and Bangladesh 470 cases and 7 deaths. Nepal has 1,569 cases and 17 deaths per lakh of population. Sri Lanka has 675 cases and 5 deaths per lakh.

During the second surge there is unprecedented increase in the number of COVID cases in our country. As on 17 May, we recorded 2.60 lakh cases or 19 cases per lakh population, Pakistan 3,232 cases or 1.4 cases, Bangladesh recorded 698 cases or 0.42 cases, Nepal recorded 9,198 cases which is 31 cases per lakh, Sri Lanka recorded 2,456 cases, that is 11 cases per lakh of population.

This data from www.worldometers.info indicates a comparison in the proportion of population being taken ill of COVID. As on 17 May 2021, India had nearly 13 times more cases than Pakistan, 44 times more than Bangladesh, 0.60 times of Nepal and 1.6 times of Sri Lanka.

If this data is to be believed then we have to very seriously introspect into the causes of such a catastrophic situation. Countries which we have been calling to be far behind us in economy have fared better in COVID management till date.

It is acknowledged globally that India has high level of expertise in medical science and has several hospitals with advanced care facilities compared to anywhere in the world. As a result people have been coming to our country for medical treatment (medical tourism) from across the world including the developed countries for the last over 20 years.

We also have good number of pharmaceutical companies, and have been supplying medicines and vaccines to other countries including Europe. We have already fought several national calamities successfully and even launched the biggest immunization programme of Pulse Polio in the world since 1994. We also successfully managed Plague in 1994 in Surat. With some ifs and buts, we also fulfilled health needs of our people during national disasters like earthquakes, tsunami, cyclones, floods, landslides and drought in the last few decades. This has been possible through the health planning in the post-independence period. Our health personnel took active part in developing national health missions like Revised T B Control Programme, National Leprosy Control Programme etc. This means we have sufficient scientific knowledge.

Then where did we fault?

The above cited successes were met with through a coordinated effort between the polity, medical personnel, and concerned citizens groups. But the present day disaster is of catastrophic nature which occurred because of skewed priorities and lack of scientific temper.

Science has never been the centre of focus during the on-going pandemic. Political interests took over science in managing the pandemic. Ironically, a public health issue was never discussed with public health experts or epidemiologists. All decision making was done in a totally centralized non transparent manner by the Prime Minister himself without any consultation with medical personnel, economists, civil society, elected representatives or even his colleagues in the cabinet.

The government completely ignored the advice of the experts in December 2019 and then in January & February 2020 when they were busy in welcoming the US President and later allegedly in engineering communal violence in North East Delhi. It was only in March 2020 that the Prime Minister suddenly woke up to impose a lockdown without consulting any expert. That caused immense damage to the economy of the country and livelihood of the people. Instead of talking with seriousness, he raised gimmicks like banging thalis and clapping etc. Unscientific ways such as use of cow urine and cow dung to control the disease or perform yagya to push corona virus away were propagated through his bandwagons; unfortunately some of the doctors and scientists too were part of it. The Health Minister, who is a trained person in modern scientific medicine and at a very prestigious position in the WHO, propagated non-proven drug like the Coronil of Baba Ramdev. He even advised people to eat chocolate, something reminiscent of the French princess advising people to eat cakes if they do not get bread.

As a consequence despite the briefings by the scientists about the upcoming 2nd wave, the government was totally unprepared for the second wave because of preoccupation in elections and Kumbh Mela. In any heath emergency, database is important to plan for the present and also the future. But the data of the number of people taken ill and deceased was purposefully fudged. This led to complacency in the society. The government’s acts added to such complacency in the minds of people. The Prime Minister was full of self-praise in the months of January and February even at the international forums.

There was no definite strategy about immunisation programme. That is why the vaccination schedule is being changed every now and then. The public sector units in pharmaceuticals and vaccine production have been closed even though they have a praiseworthy track record of participation in national health programmes. We failed to procure sufficient number of vaccines for our people on time.

Not a word of empathy for those taken seriously ill or deceased from the mouth of Prime Minister, who is always vocal even on trivial matters. The government is not ready to divert funds allocated for Central Vista project to the pandemic. Any one questioning the approach of the government is being threatened with prosecution. This is against all norms of democratic values of our great nation.

Health services in the last few years have been corporatized. That is why even the middle classes have been feeling the pinch of corporatized healthcare. Only public health services with more emphasis on the preventive aspect and allocation of sufficient budget for primary, secondary and tertiary prevention is the way out for future. (IPA Service)