Could we have managed COVID better?

Content Credits: Tejus R S 

Edited and organised by Sriroop B k

Could we have managed COVID better?

Yes. 

What does rise of COVID cases in second wave indicate?

The crisis shows lacuna in terms of intelligence, listening, priority, data forecasting, planning, decision making and execution which are Fundamental Management practices that one should possess for effectively handling the pandemic.

Facts to be understood:

1. The country spends just about 1.26% of its GDP on its public healthcare system which is much lower than countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh which spend close to 3%.
2. National Health policy 2017 recommended the central government to spend 2.5% on health and states to spend 8%. Hardly any state is allocating the required funds for public health.
3. WHO prescribed Doctor to Patient ratio is 1:1000 i.e. one doctor for every 1000 patients. India stands at 1:1456(Economic Survey 2019-2020) and is even 1:10000(National Health Profile 2019) in some parts of the country.
4. Election commission which is supposed to be an independent body and one of the pillars of our constitution held elections recently turning a blind eye to the threat.

Who will be affected the most?

• Due to sudden and unprepared lockdowns with not much of impact assessment and redressal mechanisms, the middle class, the poor and the lowest rungs of the society will be worst hit because of twin reasons i.e. the direct implications of the disease and the indirect implication of the disease on the economy.
• Apart from that excessive dependence on the private sector for healthcare adds salt to injury.
• Widespread economic devastation will lead to a recession and if unchecked will progress towards depression. Loss of lives and livelihoods are a major threat to these section of people.
• Even the online education seems to pose a threat to the knowledge credibility of the students. Skill development are at abysmal levels which pose a serious threat to their employability.

Way Forward:

• The public is not expecting any miracle from government since we know how much damage it has caused world over. But better crisis management and lessons learnt from first and ongoing second wave must be acknowledged.
• When there is a national disaster, there must be a comprehensive uniform centralised plan to combat it. 
• We saw this centralised decision making in the first wave and showed significant results.
• But the second wave has been a disaster. There needs to be a national plan for handling the pandemic and central government needs to take actions decisively and ensure accountability at the state, district, taluk and village levels.
• Setting up of Pandemic research institutes for comprehensive study, analysis and forecasting is a must.
• Databanks on migrant workers, casual labourers, jobs lost, etc. has to be maintained and tracked for compensation.
• Maintaining the independence and stature of constitutional bodies like the election commission and restructuring it to make rational decision based on facts rather than on political pressure.
• Corona virus is probably the most devastating modern disaster that the world has seen yet. It is next to impossible for any government to spread the disease immediately, but much can be done on the management side as mentioned above to contain the damage.