Thousands of humans are dying in India because we allowed COVID to spread like wild fire, without being prepared to handle so many people falling ill at the same time.
No normal hospital beds. No ICU beds. No ventilator beds. No medicines. No injections. No ambulances.
More than anything else – no oxygen to breathe. No oxygen cylinders. No refills. No oxygen concentrators.
Doctors and nurses are tired. They not only attend to patients, but also decide whom to prioritise for treatment, given the resources in their hands.
Relatives of the ill are tired. Contacts, politicians, NGOs, standing in dangerous queues where they could well catch the virus. They reach out to everyone in sight for resources that would normally be a part of any decent health care system. Money. They would get drained at the end of it. Whatever it takes to save their loved ones.
No space in the cremation and burial grounds. No ambulances to take you to the grounds.
It’s nice to hear of recovery, and most patients do recover, but the thought of the unfortunate ones dying in their homes and outside hospitals, simply because they could not be given what was needed to save them is so not acceptable in 2021. Everyone I talk to has a family member or friend who has died due to COVID. Voids that cannot be filled. No chance of even a goodbye. In a matter of a few days, life has changed for all those left behind.
So much sorrow. Sometimes anger.
No accountability. No remorse.
What more will it take for us, as a country, to change our priorities?
Thankful for each day. It seems that the worst is yet to come. We can isolate ourselves and pretend that all is fine, but as we look around, we know there isn’t much to smile about. Except for some of these memes that pop up on social media. No, some are serious, but…
30th April 2021, the military is taking over some of the COVID management. But how did we reach such a state!
To see what good leadership can do, do watch this clip.
https://www.pscp.tv/w/1gqxvonOynBKB?s=08
Hear BBC’s The Briefing Room podcast to get an overview of the current situation.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000vhlh
On 28th April, vaccination registrations for those 18+ started being accepted. The vaccination programme is designed to vaccinate people in stages: 1st March – those 60+, 1st April – those 45+ and 1st May those 18+. But vaccines are in short supply. It’s a massive task that we have always been aware of. Except that, I suspect we thought we could give it a miss for some less susceptible demographic groups, as we thought we had “conquered” COVID.
Take care everyone! Get vaccinated. Double mask. Don’t leave home unless you must.
arathimy 