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Monday Musings: Be prepared for possible 3rd wave; ramp up health infra, vax
It is time for the state government to ensure adequate stock of medicines, increase vax drives and strengthen health infra and be prepared for possible 3rd wave
PUNE Around a year ago when India started its Covid-19 vaccination programme, not many had anticipated such a harsh second wave. As the cases started surging massively with fatalities reaching a new peak in the middle of April-May, the demand for shots too went up substantially as people turned up in large numbers outside vaccination centres. This led to the vaccine constraint as the supply was fewer than demand.
This time, the country is better prepared on the vaccination front with production scaled up by two manufacturers – Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech from Hyderabad - and a majority of Indians have already taken the shots. On Saturday (December 25), Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced vaccination for children and a booster (precautionary) dose for frontline workers as well as senior citizens with co-morbidities, beginning next month.
In the light of cases of Omicron variant and increasing patients of Covid-19 each day, there is a looming threat of another wave. The experts too have pointed at this and Maharashtra government has once again imposed another round of restrictions.
It is also time for the state government to ensure Maharashtra has adequate stock of medicines when demand is currently low and production on the higher side. During the second wave, medicines such as Remdesivir and Tocilizumab were high in demand for patients hospitalised and on oxygen support. The situation for medicines when the second wave was at its peak was so bad the relatives had to wait in long queues and yet there was no guarantee they get the stock they were looking for. Eventually, the Centre took supply in its control with state government too began providing Remdesivir and Tocilizumab only through hospitals.
The state was also scrambling for oxygen as demand shot up. The government promised oxygen plants within months to meet the requirement. As the wave receded, things went back to normal with urgency replaced with laxity. As reported by Hindustan Times in its Pune edition during the first week of December, of the 65 oxygen plants which the administration had planned in Pune district to start given the Covid-19 pandemic, 37 are operational while 28 are still in the making.
Since March 2020, the district has set up over 37 oxygen plants which have a production capacity of about 21,550 litres per minute and 20 oxygen tanks that can store more than 300 kilolitres of oxygen. Covid-19 being a respiratory ailment primarily the supply of oxygen needs to be continuous among patients.
Given that transmissibility of Omicron is very high and Pune and Mumbai have faced harsh waves in the past, the state government needs to prepare itself on medicines and oxygen front besides re-organising beds. At the same time, hoarders are likely to see an opportunity in earning extra money by stalking crucial medicines now and selling it at an additional cost when there’s demand. The government needs to watch on people indulging in the hoarding of medicines which was common and police had to take action against them.
On one hand, Maharashtra has till December 25 administered over 16.4 million (1.64 crores) doses, which is a sharp rise compared to the past two months, all we know is that the vaccine will only be an additional shield from protecting ourselves from the deadly virus.
While the rise in inoculation is mostly due to local administration at various districts making vaccine doses mandatory for accessing various services and people shedding hesitancy in the light of fresh threat emerging from the new variant Omicron, the government also need to ramp up its facilities when the wave still appears slightly distant if not months away.
This year, Pune district has seen over 12,350 fatalities due to Covid-19, much higher than in 2020 when the number was 7,767. At the same time, 791,296 persons were infected with the virus this year as against 372,655 infections in 2020.
We cannot let people die in absence of either medicines or oxygen. The same goes with vaccines too.
Yogesh Joshi can be contacted at yogesh.joshi@htlive.com
