There is no certainty that at the end of the 15-day curfew the number of cases will drop or that the positivity rate, which is currently alarmingly high, will reduce. There is hope that this will occur to bring some respite from the endless cases and deaths. If it doesn’t, just what will be the next recourse for the State? Where the options are limited, the only possibility is an extension of the curfew. As a measure, the State has now started a prophylaxis treatment advising the use of Ivermectin, a drug that former Goa Medical College Dean, Dr V N Jindal had already suggested last month in Herald.
But, is the State using the current curfew period judiciously to augment infrastructure and procure equipment that would be required for now, as well as for a possible third wave of the coronavirus that has already been predicted? Goa was seriously lacking in infrastructure, equipment, manpower when the second wave came and it overpowered the medical services. The result of that is clear in the manner in which the health workers – from doctors to nurses to the support staff – have been overburdened and are struggling to treat the patients. They are doing their best, but this cannot recur in the event of a third wave hitting the State. Goa has to be better prepared.
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In that respect, the statement made by the Dean of the Goa Medical College, Dr Shivanand Bandekar, that they are ready for the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, if it hits, is both frightening and reassuring. Frightening because the devastating second wave has still not begun to subside and a third wave could possibly only bring further horror upon the State. Reassuring because the health services that were completely unprepared for the second wave have learnt from the current debacle to prepare already for what may come. But, very interestingly, the Dean said that the State has ‘all the equipment and medical aid available if a third wave hits’, what is needed, he added, is to ‘augment them’.
The crucial word in this statement is ‘augment’. After the experience of the second wave, the State government cannot remain complacent believing that the third wave is just a prediction as of now, and then scurry around when and if it hits. The facilities to meet such a wave have to be planned now and set up in the days immediately ahead, as otherwise the damage caused will be worse than that of the ongoing second wave. It is not the Dean who is responsible for augmentation of the facilities, it is the government. It is the duty of the Dean to give to the government a list of what would be required to meet the third wave and then for the government to then make arrangements to see that all this is provided.
Unless all required systems are put in place, the effectiveness of the current curfew will be lost within days of it being lifted. Though Goa is currently engaged in a battle against the second wave, it has to simultaneously prepare for what may come at a later date. The government failed in visualising how serious the second wave would be, which has ended up in the deaths of hundreds of people. This cannot be repeated by the government downplaying the possibility of a third wave. All plans must be made by treating the likelihood of a third wave as a real occurrence. The time to act is now, as lives are being lost – on an average more than two an hour to COVID-19. It can’t continue.
