Mysuru: It looks like the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemiqc seems to have peaked and fast coming to a manageable state in India. If all of us work together then the ambitious goal of Deputy Commissioner Sindhuri Rohini to have zero infection by July 1st should be possible.
However to fight this war, we need to remind ourselves of Abraham Lincoln’s wise words, “ A house divided against itself cannot stand”.
When the history of pandemic in Mysuru will be written, our political leaders with the exception of few will not be spared for not only failing to contribute but even having harmed the efforts of the administration if they continue their current activities of fighting faults with it. During a war, generals are not criticized the way they are handling the cover war.
At the end of the pandemic war, action can be taken against the faults or misdeeds of the ‘generals’. This war started last year and we do not know when it will end. Now all of us need to fight against the invisible enemy. We cannot afford to divert our attention to any other issue however important it may be. We should worry only about those issues which increase infection or create problems to patients.
For example, there was some concern expressed about the underreporting of the Covid related deaths. This is the reality not just in Mysuru or Karnataka, but all over the world. BBC and New York Times articles have tried to give a narrative that it may be underreported to the extent of 5X to 10X while Swarajya article debunked them by proving that it could not be more than 2.5X. In any case, even if we find out the true numbers of Covid death, will it have any significant impact on our ability to fight the pandemic?
While the shortage of oxygen, lack of ICUs and medicines, shortage of medical staff are rightly highlighted, political leaders should try to suggest ways to solve them by working together and not by pointing fingers. This is not the time to create political capital at the cost of diverting the attention of those who are working on the war front. Photo-ops should be minimised or even eliminated to spare their time.
It is a crying shame that when many government treatment facilities were vacant and available, private hospitals were encouraged to open unauthorized Covid Care Centers. Not only they were poorly and inefficiently managed, they became money making centers as is well known from horrible stories of those who were treated there.
District Administration took the right step in closing down those CCCs. However once the war is over, there should be an audit of who encouraged these CCCs, how patients were shortchanged, and who were the real beneficiaries. This is definitely an important issue. Still it can wait for the end of the war.
Lockdowns of different gradations have affected people in unorganized sectors far more than in any other sector. How often do we hear of our political leaders trying to come up with schemes to help them? Yes there are photo-ops of distributing some free food, or organizing stays for homeless. But has there been any attempt to know their problems of hunger, lack of access to medical needs, job loss, etc. We are so busy in finding faults with each other and giving press releases that we have no time to help the poor.
Because of closing down of schools, education of all students is affected in varying degrees. However the students attending government schools both in rural and urban areas who have no access to internet or smart phones have been hurt the most. It would have been useful if only they had given help to NGOs who are involved to support these students. Some of these NGOs are trying in their own way to help these students. But they are too busy to find out about the activities of these NGOs.
In closing let me request all our political leaders to keep aside our differences, and any perceived misdeeds of bureaucrats (unless they are life threatening) to work with a single objective of making our city and district Zero Covid by July 1.
– Team Mysoorunews
