MyVoice: Views of our readers 20th May 2021

We should safeguard ourselves

Apropos the article "RSS vs BJP" (THI 19 May). RSS will never jettison PM Modi until it trains someone similar in RSS. One should understand that their social work always is in public glare and functioning is never made public except public events foundation day and other important religious functions. Realising the public mood RSS leaders like Mohan Bhagwat, Ram Madhav are only involved in shadow boxing to raise a debate like "whether Modi would be jettisoned" etc.

What is more shocking that RSS chief went on to claim "after the first wave, we all became inattentive, whether the public, the government or administration. We knew doctors were giving signals. But we all became inattentive". How can RSS chief bring in public when the rulers became so obsessed with winning a particular state that they went into the campaign and invited people to attend their meetings, rallies, and roadshows in large numbers. RSS itself was working from behind to help its political wing to make inroads in West Bengal and other states which went for pools.

I know the general public would not have taken the RSS chief seriously if he had advised them not to let the guard down, but why he did not advise the ruling party before the outbreak of the second wave. In fact, there was a second wave when the government made a claim that India has won the war against Corona and what we are witnessing now is indeed the third wave. RSS Chief seems to have forgotten Ram Rajya where the Raja, Ram was leading from the front and practiced what he was preaching to his subjects. However, we need to be positive in facing the pandemic on our own as we can no longer depend on the rulers involved more in politics.

N Nagarajan, Hyderabad

Tough battle ahead

In view of ongoing corona onslaught, the central government issued guidelines for containing pandemic in peri urban, rural and tribal areas recently. Apart from guidance, the state governments and local bodies are in dire need of more funds and logistics support from the centre.The health services and infrastructure in rural India are far from adequate. They cannot be made battle ready with the existing way of support. To fight corona in rural areas is more difficult task when compared to the urban area. It needs a recruitment of lot of health personnel, construction of makeshift care centres and providing of oxygen, drugs and food in every village. There should be proper planning for testing and a strategy to vaccinate them. A tough battle is ahead of India in its war against pandemic.

Dr D V G Sankararao, Nellimarla,

Well done, DRDO!

It is good news that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh along with Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Monday released the first batch of the anti-Covid 2-DG drug. The new anti-Covid oral drug 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) has been successfully developed by Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences, a lab of Defence Research and Development Organisation in collaboration with Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Hyderabad.

The new 2-DG molecule helps in faster reçovery of hospitalised Covid patients by reducing oxygen dependency. This drug will provide immense benefits to the people suffering from Covid-19. "The 2-DG drug is a new ray of hope in these challenging times," the Defence Minister said while launching the new drug 2-DG.

The new 2-DG drug is a landmark in India's fight against Covid-19 pandemic. The drug will save precious lives of the Covid patients. This new drug developed by DRDO at a time India is grappling with a record breaking second wave of Corona pandemic has stretched the country's healthcare infrastructure to its limit. The 2-DG drug has brought a new ray of hope for the treatment of Covid patients in reducing oxygen dependency and spend less time in hospital. Our scientists really deserves accolades and applause for their efforts in indigenously developing this new 2-DG drug. Kudos to DRDO.

K S Rao, Thane