Second Wave of Coronavirus in India: Short-Sightedness of the Indian Government and Fall of Indian Healthcare Infrastructure
The Government of India instituted the administration of COVID-19 vaccines on January 16, 2021, after Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan stated the government’s plan to approve and begin distribution in September 2020.
Two vaccines received approval for emergency use in India at the onset of the program, including Covishield, a version of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India and Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech.
1,65,714 people were vaccinated on the first day of the vaccination drive. The first phase of the vaccination drive involved health workers and frontline workers including police, paramilitary forces, and sanitation workers. The original goal was to vaccinate 30 million estimated frontline workers but by March 1, 2021, only 14 million involved in the first rollout were vaccinated.
Massive and Fatal Surge of COVID-19 Cases in India
A five-month-long decline of novel coronavirus cases in India was dealt with a huge blow after a ferocious second wave of COVID-19 hit India at the beginning of March 2021 that saw the daily cases rise to more than 4,00,000 in India.
There is a lot to blame for the recent surge of COVID-19 cases in India including the failure to adopt a habit of wearing a mask by the commonwealth and maintain social distancing. Election rallies and people gatherings due to religious celebrations in several parts of the nation has also been cited as one of a major cause. However, the primary source of the surge has been the commonwealth’s lack of COVID-appropriate behavior.
Shortage of Medical Supplies
India faces a chronic shortage of space in ICUs. Residents of Delhi have been crowding the pavements outside hospitals in the requirement of hospital beds and oxygen. Hospitals across India are experiencing an acute shortage of oxygen supplies.
Dr. Harjit Singh Bhatti, a medical frontline worker at COVID ward of Manipal Hospital, Delhi described watching people gasping for air outside the hospital like “fish out of water”.
“They are not getting oxygen and they are dying on the roads,” he added.
However, the Government has planned to release oxygen supplies from armed forces reserves and has approved plans for more than 500 oxygen generation plants across the country to provide for the shortage of supplies.
Countermeasures
Due to the severity of the second wave, the government has been forced to convert train carriages as medical wards. The Indian authorities have brought back about 4,000 IRCTC coaches, adapted in March 2020, to help treat COVID patients with mild to moderate symptoms.
Sports halls, stadiums, and ashrams have also been converted to treatment centers to relieve the pressure on hospitals. Bangalore’s Koramangala Indoor Stadium, the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati, and Radha Saomi Satsang Beas Campus in Delhi is amongst the arenas to be converted into quarantine centers.
Vaccine Export and Short Sightedness of Indian Government
The Central Government on January 18, 2021, decided to export COVID-19 vaccines to the south-Asian neighboring countries free-of-cost as a “goodwill” gesture.
Officials from the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers met the manufactures of vaccines in India to discuss the export plan to neighboring countries.
“As a goodwill gesture, the government is planning to send Covaxin to Mongolia, Oman, Myanmar, Philippines, Bahrain, Maldives, and Mauritius,” said a senior official, who was part of the meeting.
“Covishield will be sent to Bhutan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Seychelles,” the official added.
COVID-19 vaccine and Remdesivir exports from India resulted in a big jump in the total volume of vaccine exports. Remdesivir exports doubled in March to 14.8 million dollars.
“After the vaccination program has been rolled out, COVID vaccines worth approximately 108 million dollars have been exported from India,” R Uday Bhaskar, Director-General, Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council told India Press.
This is inclusive of 70 million doses of vaccine India have to other countries as grants and sales.
As of March 2021, India became one of the biggest exporters of vaccine doses as it had the biggest global vaccine manufacturing capacity — that is before several Indian states saw shortage and the domestic demand for vaccines skyrocketed.
The last shipment of COVID vaccines of nearly 2 million doses left the country and were sent to Paraguay on April 22, the day on which India become the global leader and broke the world record for the new COVID infections.
The Severity of Vaccine Shortage and Mismatched Distribution by the Central Government of India
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was compared with Lord Hanuman during the first quarter of 2021 due to a supposed strong vaccination program and heavy exports of COVID vaccines worldwide. However, the tables have turned when these supposed acts of heroism and savior resulted in domestic shortage as the short-sightedness of the central government failed to foresee the massive surge of the second wave.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain has issued a statement to the central government in an SOS stating that Delhi has enough Covaxin to last only a day and Covishield enough to last around four days. Chief Minister of Delhi, Mr. Arvind Kejriwal had earlier shown a cause of concern and pointed out that people from NCR are also driving to Delhi for COVID shots.
The central government made all the citizens above the age of 18 eligible to get vaccine shots. The center has distributed the vaccine to the state government in accordance with their respective quotas. Mr. Kejriwal has revealed that 3 crore vaccines are required to vaccinate 1.5 crore citizens of Delhi, however, the state government has only received 50 lakhs doses.
“It’s a heinous crime committed by the Central government to sell vaccines to other countries only for its image management at a time when people were dying in our own country,” said the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Mr. Manish Sisodia.
Sisodia cited a newspaper report via which he said that the central government sold COVID-19 vaccines to 93 countries of which 60 percent had COVID-19 under control, also where there was no threat of loss of life due to the virus.
He attacked the central government and said a large number of youths in the country could have been saved in this second wave of the pandemic if the central government vaccinated the domestic citizens instead of exporting the doses.
Image Courtesy: DNA India, Mint, Hindustan Times, and Catholic News Services
