Night curfew not strictly followed
The current meaningless and futile night curfew ‘declared’ (but not strictly enforced) by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant mocks our intelligence, our dignity and our right to life. And by sarcastically appealing to the people to jointly fight the pandemic, he has exposed the government’s careless and shameless lack of will to act sensibly and decisively to protect the health and well being of citizens.
Goans find themselves helpless at this lack of political will to boldly deal with the current deepening crisis. Despite clear warnings of what was coming, the Chief Minister has merrily dragged his feet while taking no precautionary and preventive measures to control the spread of this deadly virus.
Pretending to have woken up from the slumber, it is now impossible for him to augment the medical infrastructure overnight. More beds may be laid out, but from where are they going to get the much needed doctors, nurses and support staff, so crucial to save lives? After a gruelling year, the entire medical fraternity is mentally and physically exhausted and how are they to cope with this new, aggravated calamity?
As the government has positively goofed up in handling this pandemic, it is imperative that decisions and strategy of the battle against COVID-19 be now entrusted solely to the medical experts and scientists with proven knowledge in the field, and their opinions and recommendations be binding on the Government.
These experts, and only they, should be competent to decide, as an immediate measure, whether the Casinos and night clubs, which are hot stops for the spread of the virus, should be shut, in order to contain the currently grave situation from escalating further.
In the last two years, with Pramod Sawant as Chief Minister, the devastation of Goa has escalated and accelerated, the situation only worsening beyond imagination, particularly last year despite this epidemic. This government has brazenly and heartlessly been pursuing and pushing needless projects to Goa’s detriment and degradation of our already very fragile environment.
Aires Rodrigues, Ribandar
Better council should prevail
The man kind is in the midst of greatest pandemic to have struck in the world. The gravity of the pandemic has not yet receded and the governments through advisories time and again issuing protocols for the benefit of the people. It is time to follow the guidelines strictly instead of playing the blame game. It is time to lent a helping hand and support the government. At this hour of crisis we should maintain greater transparency and greater cooperation.
C K Subramaniam, Navi Mumbai
Were emergency vax approvals justified?
Considering the adverse impacts, as much as it actually has been so far, due to vaccination as far as blood clotting in the brain, bleeding and low count of blood platelets is concerned, in retrospect, would it have been prudent to give approvals for the various vaccines, a little later after all these side effects were more stringently researched so as to modify the composition of the various vaccines to almost eliminate side effects.
We know very well that developing vaccines was a slow and arduous process involving more stringent clinical trials and as such could it in retrospect have been better to first address the extent of the side effects more thoroughly and then only approve the vaccines for actual use? Is it acceptable that whatever impact the various vaccines are having are acceptable so as to arrest the invasion of the novel corona virus that has wreaked havoc in the world with over 3 million people having succumbed to the Covid-19?
About 14 to 15% of the world population of about 7 billion have been vaccinated now mainly in developed and developing countries with just over 1 billion having received the jab so far. Would postponing the nod to the various vaccines have increased this massive toll of deaths and is it okay that the nods for use of the vaccines are justified as having had the impacts that it has had as of now? Would more thorough clinical trials have led to better impact or was action taken by regulatory bodies justified?
Although this is a hypothetical question, still another set of action taken would have resulted in a different situation, either better or maybe worse. Anyway, everyone should agree that mass vaccination has not had the desired impact as far as containing the novel corona virus is concerned, even though this might have been partly because of the advent of more strains which are even more infectious. It must be agreed that vaccination campaigns have still not secured the world from the novel corona virus threat.
Elvidio Miranda, Panjim
Act of courage deserves promotion
Amidst the gloom and despair that has descended on the country with the number of Covid-19 positive cases and deaths spiralling out of control, comes the heart-rending scene of valour played out at the Vangani railway station in Maharashtra. The entire scene has been captured on CCTV cameras at the station. The video has gone viral on Social Media.
The Udyan Express was speeding towards the railway station when railway employee Mayur Shelke was alerted by the cries of a woman standing on the platform, screaming helplessly. The railway employee whose job is to check railway signals, noticed that her 6-year old son had slipped onto the railway track below. Without a second thought, Shelke raced towards the boy, bundled him onto the platform and then swiftly clambered onto it seconds before the train crossed the station on its way towards Bengaluru.
The exceptionally courageous act of risking his own life to save the life of a child won him plaudits from various quarters including railway minister Piyush Goyal. However, the railway employee was humble enough to play down his act and even donated a part of the cash reward he received to the boy’s mother who is blind. It is true that all heroes do not wear capes and the railway pointsman was a true hero in every sense of the word.
The railway employee richly deserves a promotion from the employers and an award from the government for his act of bravery.
Adelmo Fernandes, Vasco
Prone position boosts oxygen
Doctors in Goa today, have found out that the prone position increases oxygen saturation. Why are they learning so late? In October 2020, Singapore Doctors disclosed how they flipped patients on ventilators to the prone position to keep them alive. Singapore was also among the first to dump Hydroxychloroquine much before Goa was still using the same. Despite having so many Doctors in Goa including the IMA, why are they not learning from others?
Pooling resources and innovations would have saved lives in Goa: 26 deaths per day compared to just 30 in Singapore for the full year and a quarter! Surely they need to keep a tab on them. Not only in the medical field but also in the administration: how they tackled the opening of the economy. Their primary objective was the safety of the people. In India, and Goa the Industry dictated terms and put the entire Nation into the present quagmire of death and destruction. Singapore is now exporting the life saving Oxygen to India which has no inkling on management techniques. CRP – Capacity Requirements Planning would have saved hundreds of lives in India. How was the Budget passed without any provision for Oxygen Generators? Note how the Industry ‘praised’ the same!
R Fernandes, Margao
