The health community survey that will be taken up across the State next week has caused some consternation among the people and the political parties who have been questioning the purpose of this exercise in the midst of a lockdown. Understandably, when Goa’s 1.5 million strong population has been told to stay home to avoid getting infected by the Coronavirus, the idea of persons going about knocking on the doors of houses raises questions of the survey. When people are avoiding the streets and going out only for the essentials, they would be reluctant to open their doors and welcome the survey team into their house, as this team has already been to various other homes.
This survey has attracted the criticism from the opposition. Leader of the Opposition Digambar Kamat suggested that instead of a survey, there should be community testing for the virus. South Goa MP Francisco Sardinha went on to label the survey as ‘foolish’ and wondered whether the people would divulge correct information. The MP went further to say that the State would do better if it were to replicate what was done in Bhilwara, Rajasthan. Goa Forward Party’s Vijai Sardesai called it a piecemeal approach of the government ‘fraught with a lot of transmission risks, and wondered what was the government’s exact action plan.
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Faced by the criticism, Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant not only assured that all preventive measures will be taken by the field teams, but also went on to state that undertaking the survey was not a political decision but an exercise planned in consultation with the health team of doctors from GMC, Health Department and others. He argued that the survey is important so as to avoid community transmission and said it would be on similar lines as the one carried out in Rajasthan’s Bhilwara district, where numbers of positive cases dropped drastically. The Chief Minister is on record as stating that the Bhilwara model has been studied by the government, before going ahead with the survey in Goa.
One has to understand how the Bhilwara survey worked and what it achieved. Bhilwara, a district in Rajasthan, was described as the epicentre of COVID-19 in the State, and listed as a hotspot of Coronavirus in a list of 10 major spots of the country. The district had 12 of the State’s 18 cases at one point, and these quickly increased. That is when the administration acted. The city was sealed and soon too the district boundaries. The city population was screened at least three times and those with a cough or cold were checked and surveyed. Lakhs from the city and villages were screened. Those displaying symptoms were placed in isolation or quarantine. It now has 17 recoveries with 11 persons discharged. In contrast, the survey in Goa will lead to households filling out a form giving details of the family member’s travel history since February 15 and COVID symptoms.
But there is the other model, that of the Delhi government which bases its plan of action on the 5T approach – testing of people, tracing of contacts, treatment of positive cases and quarantine of suspects, teamwork with other governments and trekking and monitoring of progress. Delhi is one of the places in India where the number of cases is increasing fast, leading to the government there taking this approach to handle the crisis.
Goa has selected the Bhilwara model. The question is whether all those who during the survey admit to symptoms of COVID-19 – which in the early stages are also those of the common flu – will be tested for novel Coronavirus. The survey will be effective only if this is done, for across the world it is testing that is saving lives.
