As per the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), India is in Stage II. Stage III is when community spread will be the biggest threat due to the high population density. While Goa has been lucky this far, merely shutting down offices and schools or a complete lockdown will not contain the spread in case of a community spread.
In the wake of this, there are several questions the State, which is even now going ahead with the Zilla Parishad polls despite the Centre’s advisory, has to answer. Is Goa prepared for a worst-case scenario? On assumption that around 18 per cent of the people who contract COVID-19, develop severe disease in a month or less, do our government and private hospitals have sufficient isolation beds, quarantine rooms and adequate treatment facilities? Another question is, while Goa Medical College (GMC) has ultra modern facilities, why does it not have a virology testing lab? No laboratory in Goa figures in the national list released by ICMR. Is this a ploy to bring private partners to be paid with exchequer’s money? GMC already has staff paid on regular basis for the same work, just that the equipment is not available.
Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, has no doubt been proactive on the issue, but what is shocking is that there is no testing lab commissioned even two and half months after the epidemic started in Wuhan. Not just labs, there is not even a single collection centre listed by ICMR. That led to the false diagnosis incident on Wednesday when the Health Minister mistakenly announced there was a positive case in Goa. There is no clarity as to who is doing the collections at GMC. This throws a question that if collections are done in a proper way and testing results are factually correct, why does GMC not figure in the ICMR collection centre list? The minister could do well to examine the policies behind the sample collection and testing.
Another issue is that in the event of severe cases there will be urgent need of ventilators. Will the government release the current position of availability of ventilators at GMC, DHS and private hospitals? If these are not adequate, how many have been ordered and by when will they be available? In China and Europe scores of people have perished due to non-availability of ventilators. Besides, the government must also inform what is the current stock of various types of masks? Whether they are sufficient to meet the daily demands and how long before the stock is depleted? What steps has the government or FDA taken to see that hand sanitizers and masks are available at reasonable prices? What has FDA done to check hoarding?
Another important question is efficiency of screening at the airport. Rane visited the airport early Thursday morning and oversaw the screening, but there are examples of people escaping the screening network, which appears porous. These people pose a grave risk to the local community having visited countries with high percentage of infections. Who is actually ensuring that persons that might be possibly affected on account of foreign travel are quarantined? Also, if quarantined, what are the facilities for the suspects? Do they fulfil minimum standard for a comfortable stay? This could be one reason why people are declining to be isolated.
An important issue is the availability of wards for quarantine. When there are facilities available in Goa awaiting commissioning, like the South Goa District hospital, why it is not be used for isolation and quarantine of suspects? As stated by Rane, full powers may be exercised by the authorities under the Epidemic Act and this may well be the time to inaugurate the South Goa District Hospital.
