MyVoice: Views of our readers 12th April 2020

Prevention is better; cure may be tough

In the collective struggle to unravel the mystery of coronavirus disease originating from China, baffling facts have emerged. In studies conducted in various countries, contrary to the theory that Covid-19 discriminates by age and those with underlying preconditions, the majority of those affected in India are below the age group of 45.

It is reported that in China the casualties among men was 2.8% against 1.7%in women. This trend of men getting more afflicted than women is replicated in the numbers put out by Germany, Italy, Spain, France and South Korea.

Reportedly, other countries particularly the USA and the UK with high mortality rates have not shared this information. In Italy, 71% of the victims are men and in Spain it is 66%.

Leaders who were dismissive about the Covid-19, like Donald Trump, making plans to pack the churches for Easter on April 12, had to make a U turn when they realised that the virus had taken a menacing foothold in the USA.

This intensified the hunt for any drug that could halt the onslaught of this virus. In the pursuit of a mirage of unproven treatment, Trump went to the extent of threatening India with retaliation if the supplies of hydroxychloroquine was not released!

The cavalier attitude of Boris Johnson who had said that we should "take it on the chin, take it all in one go and allow the disease as it were, to move through the population without taking as many draconian measures" to develop "a herd immunity", is himself a victim of this affliction and is in the ICU and I join the prayers of the world community for his speedy recovery.

The Iranian Minister who sneered at the Covid-19 himself became a victim and several lives are being lost in Iran. A false sense of security and disregard for social distancing and other precautions caused a heavy death toll in Italy which is now in a state of pandemonium.

This pandemonium is giving a new life to mafia. The worst affected parts of Covid-19 are in the north. If it spreads to the impoverished and distressed south, the mafia will swoop in to bring order and reemerge as it did a hundred years ago to bring order to a State that appeared weak.

Looking at the situations in various parts of the world, this pandemic can exacerbate the understaffed and under equipped health system if it peaks in India, to a point that our critical care capacity cannot cope with.

Disregarding any armchair experts' views for lifting of the lockdown, it will be prudent to extend the lockdown in the country for at least two more weeks. Maintaining social distancing, washing hands frequently and wearing a mask when outside will help.

Let us build immunity against this virus in the meantime, the government should make sure all essentials are within easy reach of the public during the extended lockdown.

S Vasudevan, East Marredpalli, Secunderabad

No compromise with the Covid-19 threat

The onslaught of Covid-19 has not only set to affect the lives of many a people of our country but has also tilted the economy to a great extent.

But the government and the people of our democracy have seldom compromised on threat to life caused as a result of affliction of the virus and have been providing succour to the victims of this disease considering life as a precious and priority concern more than the money.

Ever since the lockdown was declared in the nation by the government, the multi-faceted activity all over across the nation has virtually come to a standstill as people gave up all their hopes in getting on with their regular priority concerns.

Due to the enforcement of lockdown in the country, the focus of the people of various denominations irrespective of caste, creed, religion and economic status was drawn towards encountering the threat posed by the virus.

All in all, hospitalisation, testing and treatment of COVID suspected patients has mainly been on the priority agenda of the governments and the people who became panic from the day one of lockdown.

Further on the visual media there has been nothing other than the projection of national and global statistics pertaining to the Covid-19 attack and the truant played by it in victimising the humanity.

Ever since the incidence of the virus, followed by lockdown, there has not only been a phenomenal rise in the number of people attacked and succumbed to it but has also been a dwindling effect on the national economy.

Due to virtual shutdown of all activities, there has been a greater impact on the national economy resulting in an almost a total insolvency that needs to be compensated through several ways and means and all possible measures.

As a part of measures to overcome the present crisis, the government needs to adopt a two-pronged strategy of providing maximum medical support to the COVID victims and make good of losses sustained on account of total lockdown for 21 days.

Hence, if further extension of lockdown becomes inevitable, the nation has to pay a heavy price for such an eventuality and there would further be a heavy loss to the economy.

There is seemingly a tangible solution planned out to offset the present crisis of economic insolvency arising due to Covid-19, as the government could mobilise donations from several donors who include industrialists, film celebrities, sport stars, athletes and other organisations and institutions.

Further, it is a special advantage for the Covid victims now and in future even as the total number of 750 MPs, the President, Vice-President and the governors have given their approval to enforce an ordinance that sets to cut 30% of their salaries and perks so as to add a whopping of Rs 7500 crore to the Consolidated Fund of India.

The ordinance which will be in enforcement also sets to scrap the MPLAD scheme for a two year period starting from April 1st, 2020. There has been adverse economic impact in the country due to keeping off public transport like railways, roadways and airways, notwithstanding revenue losses on account of closing down liquor and textile trade which are the major money spinners.

Also, there has been a huge loss due to shutting down manufacturing and tourism industry which are also the major money spinners.

Hence, the government has the social and moral responsibility to bear the expenses and forgo its liability towards tackling Covid-19 besides paying off salaries and wages of the government employees out of the funds mobilised during the lockdown from several sources and courteous donors.

Hence, the total amount of funds raised for tackling Covid-19 would go a long way to serve the treatment purpose as well as overcoming the deficit of revenue caused during the lockdown period.

Bh Indu Sekhar, Hyderabad

It is a war, not just a fight against pandemic

Protection of human lives is a primary responsibility of the government which needs tagging with stimulus economy. The Covid-19, originated in China, has spread over to 208 countries taking a toll of more than 15,000 lives and turning 3,50,000 others positive.

The severity of our current crisis is indicated by the extreme uncertainty as to how or when it will end, that the only guaranteed exit route from enforced "social distancing" is a vaccine, which is unlikely to be on the market until the summer of the next year, provided the scientists succeed.

Otherwise, a set of policies that could successfully navigate a lengthy hiatus, and it would be harder still to implement them. It is now inevitable that we will experience deep global recession, a breakdown of labour markets and the evaporation of consumer spending.

There is a grim truth at the centre of the present crisis that makes it feel closer to a war than a recession - a replay of 2008 melodrama. Each country is ramping up emergency measures.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's fiscal firepower is limited by our large deficit and a bevy of overly indebted State-owned companies.

His own advisors have warned that without major reforms, India could face a structural slowdown that will keep long-term growth rate far below the 8 per cent that India needs.

The Finance Minister had presented an optimistic budget, keeping afloat granting financial aid to combat the coronavirus to maintain economic stability -the two sides of the same coin.

Seetharam Basaani, Hanamkonda

There's no point in blaming others

The world continues with the lockdown; and all indications are for an extension in India or at least in some States. A pandemic by an unseen enemy has flattened the economies and destroyed the confidence of many countries - even those high up on the socio-economic scale.

Unfortunately, in India, the pandemic took a communal colour as people polarised completely and angers rose uncomfortably. Science writers-both fiction and non-fiction, always speculate on the scenarios when the world would become united, humanity comes as one, borders dissolve, and the final saviour would be a collective human intelligence and not a single country (like the USA mostly, going by Hollywood) or a person (a white male preferably).

A pandemic would be one situation; the second would be a threat of annihilation from extra-terrestrial sources. Meteors, rocks, solar flares, and maybe even aliens. It is unlikely we can do much if an intelligent alien species decides to attack us.

Someone who is intelligent enough to travel huge distances in a great ship perhaps may find us puny and insignificant. However, we have lost the chance for a world unity on the first option as the everyone is fighting everyone in this world today in terms of blaming who is responsible, for the masks, for the protections equipment, for the ventilators, for the drugs, and so on.

If at all, the pandemic has thoroughly disunited us as some countries become villains as do unfortunately some people. There is still hope of good sense prevailing after this round that countries and leaders divert a fraction from the defence budgets to face any such future disasters.

Setting up of special hospitals at all levels geared for dealing with pandemics or natural disasters, stocking of equipment at such hospitals, and training of doctors on a continuous mode perhaps should become our theme in the next five years or so.

The nuclear weapons of the world, narrowly used to threaten individual enemies today, but having the power to destroy the world many times over, may find its use to defend against extra-terrestrial threats.

In a Utopian dream, may they all stock on some extra-terrestrial site! Carl Sagan insisted that we should always strive to become a two planet species. The Earth seems too fragile, the human intelligence too immature, to come together as we spiral on a downward mode of self-destruction.

Or perhaps even that would be futile as we can always start inter-planetary wars. It is no use blaming the leaders, scientists, or any one group alone. They only reflect the collective human attitudes. Human unity seems to be so very elusive even in drastic conditions.

Dr Pingali Gopal, Warangal

Let's prepare, the worst is yet to come

"Every crisis is an opportunity, an opportunity to rectify the causes, improve the response and avoid the same in future." This remark of Kalamkraanti means undergoing a crisis will make a victim to explore ways to avoid the same in future. The pandemic Covid-19 and its impact has made us think differently and exposed existing gaps in certain areas.

There is no doubt; the country will surely surpass this global pandemic with great determination, but it needs to have a well-designed plan. It is very courageous decision taken by the country's Prime Minister to announce lockdown from March 24 to Aprtil-14 and there is murmur that it will be extended for another two weeks.

However, the decision of lockdown will cost us severely on many fronts, but the Prime Minister's iron will inclined to the same to protect the lives of his people instead thinking about economy and others.

Yes, the lockdown has reduced the mortality rate and transmission rate of the coronavirus considerably, but it is not possible for India like countries often to announce lockdown due to the pandemics.

There are many rumours that many new malformed viruses are in the row to infect. Therefore, to face any such type of pandemics our country should have to design an effective plan.

Further, it has to recognise the problems noticed during the lockdown period such as plight of migrant workers, destitute, homeless, small-scale merchants, hardships of farmers, private sector employees and respond appropriately not to reoccur.

Owing to the prevailing uncertainties, the government should establish the "health crisis management "with an appropriate budgetary allocation.

The government should think about also encouraging for setting "Ankurs" in the area of medical technology or it should develop med-tech zones across the country for developing testing kits, protective equipment for frontline workers and people.

It is very tough and time taking task to import testing kits and equipment from other countries when lives of our people are at risk.

The Union government should consider Cuba as a model for its unique nationalised health system that has sent its medical brigadiers to 14 Covid-19 affected to countries now. The Union government should have to maintain doctor and people ratio by establishing more medical colleges.

Further, it has to bring a Bill to consider all the four and half-year medical courses like BDS, AYUSH and Homeopathy graduates as doctors for PHCs for screening tests and diagnosis for maintaining the doctors' ratio.

Further, it should utilise their services as counsellors for creating awareness on nutrition, immunity building, hygienic habits, sanitation, and oral health and about healthy lifestyle by organising camps in their catchment area. It is very essential to improve the public health care system both physically and in terms of human resources.

Fortunately, we are living in digital era and the usage of technology has brought sea change in medical field. To make our country stronger and to get benefit from our demographic advantage, we should give tor priority for the usage of technology for screening and making the people more alert during the outbreak of epidemics.

The use of Artificial intelligence, the smart phone technology to introduce face recognition for the screening, contact tracing has paid rich health dividends in China. Therefore, our country should also encourage such practices and to stimulate our software engineers to develop apps like "Arogya Sethu".

This type of apps will make the people more aware about the infected people and it will promote self-testing and to avoid panic feelings.

It is very essential to involve the DRDO-like organisations and IITs for designing low cost life supporting systems, kits and protective equipment.

It is good to notice that our DRDO scientists developed Personal Protecting Equipment (PPE) for frontline workers and IIT Ropar has taken initiative to design an airtight room in which negative pressure will suck out the droplets that can propagate disease through ventilators.

This type of research should be given top priority for saving the lives of people of the nation. It is good to involve the Self Help Groups and their workforce in preparing the masks, sanitisers, nutritious food material for immunity improvement for the quarantined people.

In a country like us, we need more testing centres so, the government should think about making all the research centres, medical colleges as testing centres. Further, it should provide an online training on testing procedure for all the medical students irrespective of year and should utilise their services during the outbreak of pandemic.

Further, it is essential to make our younger generations stronger towards any epidemic. Yoga, social distancing practice and handwashing should be made compulsory in the school curricular activities.

It is better to train the students to prepare masks for the community under the guidance of craft instructors that are giving training in various activities in schools. The time has arrived to check the propagation of pandemic and to reduce its impact with the support of society.

So, health education should be made as a curricular concept and make the testing is compulsory about their readiness during the outbreaks. We should not forget the significance of the words uttered by Henry de Bracton, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". That is the only resort we have in our hands.

E Gajendra Nath Reddy, Badvel, Kadapa dist, AP

Lockdown can stay, not the killer virus

As the world is reeling under the terrible shock of Covid-19, it should evolve strategies to effectively combat coronavirus and normalise certain levels of daily life.

India is passing through a crisis of unprecedented magnitude with opulent optimism. The relaxation of lockdown in the country is not a necessity, considering the extent of devastation being caused by Covid-19 in several parts of the country.

The government should accelerate economic growth by all means. It should adopt remedial measures for the stabilisation of our economy which has been on decline for over two weeks. An irrational cut in the salaries of its employees is an undesirable development in some States.

It speaks of the unsoundness of our policies, aimed at the crisis management. Daily labourers are the worst sufferers in all parts of the country. Their interests are being neglected to a large extent.

All sections of people find financial crisis, resulted from lockdown. The extension of lockdown seems to be imminent in our country. There should be relaxation in some States which have not witnessed the cases of Covid-19 in enormity.

The unrestrained public life in certain States will signal positive trends in various sectors and ease the burden of the government considerably.

I strongly believe that we can free ourselves from the pandemic by implementing universal mask use and social distancing.

Manthena Damodara Chary, Kismatpur, Hyderabad