New Delhi: As India experiences a second wave of coronavirus, the health system in the country is beginning to crumble and the overwhelming surge in Covid-19 cases, has left hospital infrastructure overburdened. Many reports have surfaced wherein severely ill Covid-19 patients have either died or are getting treated in ambulances because of lack of beds in the hospitals. Hospitals in major cities are staring at a bed crisis with most of them underscoring that their critical care units are all occupied. Meanwhile, leading doctors feel that the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic urgently requires an extraordinary response. With many hospitals running out of beds, doctors feel that it’s time for a restrictive lockdown, to deal with the looming crisis.
Restrictive lockdown-need of the hour?
Dr Naresh Trehan, top cardiovascular and cardiothoracic surgeon, said that the only robust way to respond to this new variant of virus is to quickly go for a restrictive lockdown. Regarding the magnitude of the situation which is getting worse and worse, Trehan, chairman of the Medanta hospital chain in India, said that the different new strains of virus have spread at a double speed and caught the medical fraternity by surprise.
“The way Maharashtra had taken a decision, the other states too should make a fast move… because time is precious.”
“Even the second wave of the Spanish flu was very devastating. Similarly in this second wave of Covid-19, I see that the number of cases are swelling very fast, each day. The difference between the figures of the first and second wave is enormous, almost double.” said Trehan.
How to contain the virus?
On how to contain the virus, the leading cardiologist said the vaccination drive has to be augmented.
“Besides, we have to increase the base of testing to ascertain the spread of this virus. And lastly everyone has to be cautious. Wearing a mask is a must… It’s simple to say but hard to implement on the ground, particularly in smaller towns and places ,” Trehan, an alma mater of the famous King George Medical College (KGMC) of Lucknow, told IANS.
When asked how dreaded are these new variants, leading Indian physician and former President of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), K.K. Agarwal told IANS: “The UK strain, seen largely in Punjab is affecting the young, specially those under the age of 45. Then there are strains from South Africa, Brazil and ones traced in Maharashtra. Out of these, the Indian mutation (of the virus) seems a bit dangerous. Like a wave, the virus is now spreading from the west(Maharashtra) to north (Delhi)… But seeing the cases, I can say that the UK virus doesn’t look dangerous.”
Is complete lockdown a solution?
On the question of enforcing a complete lockdown in the country to curb the further spread of the second wave of the pandemic, Agarwal suggested that area wise containment could be effective.
“Complete lockdown would not be practical. Actually enough time has been lost. We have to now focus on how to back the healthcare services and provide treatment to patients as numbers of admission are rising at a very fast pace. I would suggest that people should go for treatment as soon as symptoms appear,” said Agarwal, who was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian honour for his contribution to the field of medicine.
(With IANS inputs)