‘It’s a story of apathy, mismanagement and the reluctance of the state government to declare a lockdown in the face of falling revenue and depleting treasury’.
Bengaluru: The number of active Covid cases in Bengaluru stands at 1.5 lakh, the highest for any city in India! The number tells the story of apathy, mismanagement and the reluctance of the state government to declare a lockdown in the face of falling revenue and depleting treasury!
Did the B.S. Yediyurappa government prioritise wealth over health is a subject matter to debate on a different day, as the focus now is on saving lives that are getting snuffed out at the doors of hospitals, in ambulances waiting in serpentine queues, on footpaths, and autorickshaws across the state.
Karnataka’s Covid-19 fatalities on Friday crossed the 14,000 mark with 190 deaths while the single-day highest cases of 26,962 took the total infections to 12,74,959 cases. With the total fatalities at 14,075 since the beginning of the pandemic, the death rate is nearing 3%. The grim picture dotted with heart wrenching stories of patients gasping for breath in need of oxygen is a case in point as far as preparedness of the dispensation is concerned.
The Karnataka Task Advisory Committee on Covid-19 has asked the state government to impose stringent restrictions, including lockdown for 14 days to break the chain. The TAC has also pressed for increasing the number of beds to tide over the crisis.
Health minister Dr S. Sudhakar made important announcements on Wednesday to this effect. “Beds that are dedicated to dialysis, mother and child care and all life threatening diseases will not be not disturbed, but that apart all other beds in Bangalore will be dedicated to Covid patients which means that over 7,000 beds will be immediately available for treatment. All nursing homes and hospitals with up to and less than 30 beds should mandatorily treat non-Covid patients. All hospitals that have bed capacity of more than 30 will now have to dedicate 80% of the beds and ICU facility to the state government; so far it was only 50%, now it will be made 80%.
However, the reality is that a GO to this effect has still not been issued bowing to the pressure from the private hospital lobby. The health experts are of the opinion that the healthcare system is totally choked with the occupancy rate reaching 100 pc in most of the big hospitals and capacity building is happening at snail’s pace.
The TAC members also foresee the third wave Covid in October-November and suggested that the government complete the vaccination of vulnerable age groups before the next wave hits.
Professor and Head of Lifecourse Epidemiology, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), Giridhar Babu says: “I have on record said that there are two main strategies. Firstly, we need to reduce the number of cases and that will happen only by a stringent lockdown for at least 14 days. Secondly, we should expand the bed capacity by taking as much as possible beds from all the private medical colleges, nursing homes and hospitals.”
According to him, the 14 days lockdown will reduce the number of infections. The TAC member said the state may witness the peak of the second wave by the May end or the first week of June.
According to the latest health bulletin, so far 10,46,554 people were discharged cumulatively including 8,697 on Friday in the state.
The Bengaluru urban district alone contributed more than 60 per cent of day’s cases and mortalities with 16,662 fresh infections and 124 deaths on Friday.
The city has so far reported 6,15,581 infections and 5,574 deaths. There are 1,49,624 active cases. According to the health bulletin, 1,004 infections were reported in Tumakuru, 742 in Kalaburagi, 695 in Ballari, 645 in Mysuru, 588 in Bengaluru Rural, 519 in Mandya, 504 in Kolar, 485 in Dakshina Kannada, 472 in Dharwad, 471 in Chikkaballapura, 429 in Vijayapura, 428 in Raichur and 416 in Bidar. Other than Bengaluru, eight fatalities have been reported in Hassan, seven in Kalaburagi, six in Ballari, five each in Dharwad, Kolar and Tumakuru, four each in Bengaluru Rural, Haveri, Mandya and Mysuru, two each in Belagavi, Bidar, Chamarajanagar, Chikkaballapura and Vijayapura.
There were 1,77,466 tests done on Friday including 1,59,681 using the RT PCR and other methods taking the total tests done so far to 2.44 crore, the department added. Meanwhile, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta said the officials at the civic agency’s COVID war room are working over time. On the shortage of oxygen and essential drugs such as Remdesivir, the Chief Commissioner said that the whole country was grappling with it and the Centre and the state are dealing with it in an effective manner.
To a query on the need for more ICU beds, he said already a few have been arranged and more have to be procured very soon. With 26,962 infections on Friday, the state touched the highest single-day spike in Covid cases.
Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa had during a video conference told the PM that the state needs about 1,500 tonnes of oxygen and two lakh vials of Remdesivir. As far as containing the numbers are concerned the state has imposed night curfew and weekend curfews while ordering closure of many shops and business establishments. The GO restricts close to 90 of the activities making a near lockdown like situation.
But all these appear as a knee jerk reaction in the face of growing criticism over the lack of vision and preparedness of the BSY-led BJP government which is being highlighted by the regional media by carpet bombing with stories from ground zero.
The tell all tales were so disturbing that regional news even refused to accept advertisements offered by the information department to avoid bad press and control the image damage.