The Punjab Government has arranged for regular oxygen supply through the air route from different parts of the country, disclosed members of the state Covid Control Room (O2) on Mondau.

They informed that the oxygen supply started from April 27 through the air route and they have managed to get a total of 804.26 metric tonnes Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) till date by operating 30 flights with the assistance of the IAF.

Due to the long journey undertaken by trucks plying to and from Bokaro and Hazira, from where the state get its LMO quota, the Punjab government led by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh had decided to airlift oxygen tankers to the Bokaro and Hazira plants from the Chandigarh air base and bring them back by road, shared Control Room officials. The decision has turned the situation in the state’s favour as it has been able to obtain adequate and uninterrupted oxygen supplies.

The Control Room (O2) officials also informed that they were in touch with oxygen generation plants in different parts of the country to Punjab and the state government was closely monitoring and ensuring the timely movement of the trucks carrying LMO. “A double tap on truck movement was being kept from the State Covid Control Room and a police constable is also accompanying each truck to keep a check on delays in case of a breakdown. All these efforts were in addition to the two oxygen expresses that the state has rolled to Bokaro and Hazira,” said an official.

“There has been an improvement in the supply of oxygen and we will try our best to see that no coronavirus patient suffers due to a shortage of the life-saving gas”, the Control Room officials said.

Senior doctors including former HODs and directors of hospitals in Jammu and Kashmir have said that the bureaucracy has not been taking them into confidence while setting priorities for Covid containment measures.

Recently, the State Executive Committee (SEC) headed by Chief Secretary B.V.R Subrahmanyam gave directions to all deputy commissioners of Jammu and Kashmir to establish Covid Care Centres with about 20,000 beds in order to cater to Covid-positive patients who have no or mild symptoms.

Reacting to this decision, senior doctors said that it is wastage of government money as Covid-positive patients with no or mild symptoms normally stay at home and do not need such care centres. “Lt Governor Manoj Sinha should order a probe into all the expenditure shown by bureaucrats, especially deputy commissioners during the first and second wave of pandemic,” said a senior doctor in charge of a Covid-designated hospital in Srinagar.

Doctors said that they should be in the committees set up by the government for Covid containment measures because they know the immediate needs in hospitals to save patients. “We immediately need ICU beds and high flow oxygen beds and the government should avoid spending money to create 20,000 Covid care beds in rural areas as they will not save any patient,” said a senior consultant in a Covid-designated hospital of Srinagar.

Most of the doctors spoke to this newspaper on the basis of anonymity as recently the J&K bureaucracy issued a circular warning doctors not to talk to the media as action would be taken against them under rules.

Besides the misplaced priorities of the bureaucracy in Jammu and Kashmir regarding Covid containment, doctors also pointed out a lack of trained staff to make the available ICU beds operational. Most hospitals in Jammu and Kashmir lack skilled staff, especially for operating equipment required for Covid care. Recently, a social activist in Jammu also said that only 84 ventilators are operational in the Jammu region and the rest are defunct as there is no skilled staff to operate them.

Organizations have also claimed that most hospitals in Jammu and Kashmir are under-staffed. Giving figures, a social activist said that GMC Jammu is presently working with only 60 percent of its staff.

Jammu and Kashmir is showing a high mortality rate. Three doctors also died of Covid in the Jammu region due to the lack of critical care beds.

The DRDO has said that they will hand over two hospitals with 500 beds for Covid care in Jammu and Srinagar to the authorities. “The DRDO will hand over 1000-bedded hospitals in Jammu and Srinagar with 270 ventilator beds, but the bureaucracy has no clue who will operate them. Are they ready with skilled staff to operate these 270 ventilators?” asked a former director of SKIMS who also complained about the bureaucracy not consulting doctors about Covid containment measures in the Union Territory and misusing Covid containment funds due to a lack of accountability. He also appealed to LG Sinha to probe the expenditures so far and not allow bureaucrats to waste resources.

Mucormycosis is now a noticed disease and hospitals should report it to the government as it is illegal to hide it, said Health and Medical Education Minister of Karnataka Dr K. Sudhakar. He was speaking to the media after a meeting with experts and officials regarding the disease.

“Black fungus is a post-Covid complication and those who have uncontrolled diabetes and use a high dosage of steroids are vulnerable. Those who undergo organ transplantation and those with immunocompromised conditions like HIV are also likely to contract it. Such categories of people should be more cautious,” warned the minister.

“It has been learnt that the water used in humidifiers in hospitals is causing this. An expert panel has been set up to find out the exact cause of this disease. Measures will be taken after the expert committee submits its report,” said Dr Sudhakar.

Dr Sudhakar also informed the media that the fungus enters through the nasal cavity in people with low immunity, after which it attacks their eyesight. “One should get treatment immediately after it enters the nose,” he said.

The minister also spoke of the treatment facility at Bowring Hospital. “97 people have been reported with this infection so far and they are being treated at the Bowring Hospital on an experimental basis,” he said, adding, “Amphotericin injection is being given for treatment. A single patient needs 40-60 vials of this medicine. The Centre has approved 1,050 vials, out of which 450 vials have been supplied to our state. We have also placed an order for 20,000 vials.”

Dr Sudhakar also noted that black fungus treatment will start soon at the Mysuru Medical College, Shivamogga Medical College, JIMS, KIMS, Ven-lock and KMC Hospital in Udupi to facilitate treatment of patients in the respective districts.

He also said the government has information about persons infected with black fungus at private and government hospitals and treatment would be provided to them accordingly, free of cost.

Amid the spike in cases of Covid-19, mucormycosis or black fungus has emerged as a huge problem for Haryana, with more than 60 cases of the infection being reported in the state, as per official data.

In the wake of this, Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij has declared black fungus a notified disease in the state. Hereafter, if a patient is diagnosed with black fungus in any government or private hospital in Haryana, it will have to be reported to the CMO of the local district so that appropriate steps can be taken to prevent the disease.

Vij said that for the treatment of the disease, senior doctors of PGIMS Rohtak will conduct video conferencing with all the doctors who are treating Covid-19 in the state and inform them about the treatment black fungus.

Keeping in view the spurt in cases of mucormycosis, the state’s health department has also formed a committee to take a decision on the distribution of the injection Amphotericin-B which is in huge demand currently. The committee will ensure its availability and timely distribution so patients who need it can get it without any delay or problem.

It has been made clear by the committee that any hospital, whether government or private, looking for the injection will have to apply by sending an email to amphobharyana@gmail.com before 9 am daily. No hospital would be allowed to send requests for the medicine on the personal email of the committee members. Health institutions have also been directed that in case the approved medicine remains unused for ten days, it should be returned to the concerned Civil Surgeon.

In a bid to control the disease, the state government has decided to set up four centres in PGI Rohtak, Agroha Medical College, Hisar, SGT Medical College, Gurugram and Kalpana Chawla Medical College, Karnal.

Museology is a relatively unsung element of our narrative that is critical to gain insight into the history of humankind and learn the triumphs and tragedies of a bygone era. A culture can be recorded for posterity with meticulous documentation and proper artefact preservation. Exhibits have a way of bringing history to life by telling stories on a global as well as a local scale. This includes the journey of a nation through accounts of civilisations and empires along with the narratives of various local communities. Iconic museums like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (formerly Prince of Wales), or the CST Railway Heritage Museum and even the Sulabh International Museum of Toilets in New Delhi, Dinosaur Museum in Balasinor are a few cases in context.

The subaltern segment of museology and culture presents the tragic saga of maritime museums which ought to otherwise be an important part of our heritage and the journey of nation-building. This often gets neglected. Though the oceanic world envelops our country from three sides, it is still an aspect that is frequently overlooked. The National Maritime Museum was inaugurated on 5 April 1979, due to the efforts of the Indian Maritime Legend — late Vice Admiral M.P. Awati, Founder Chairman of Maritime History Society. This museum has had its heydays and seen longer periods of a comatose existence. The museum came alive when INS Vikrant was converted into a museum ship after its decommissioning in 1997. This museum ship was docked in Mumbai and opened to the public in 2001. The project couldn’t go on for long and was later discontinued in 2012 due to lack of sustainability in a harsh marine environment. The effort to turn INS Godavari or INS Viraat into a maritime museum could not fructify. 

There are a few success stories in maritime museology in India. INS Kursura, after its decommissioning, was turned into a museum ship and is currently housed in Visakhapatnam. Being a submarine museum, it is the first of its kind in South Asia. The Southern Naval Command in Kochi has a maritime museum which houses a collection of various models of ship, weapons used by the Navy, etc. India is gearing towards the making of its first National Maritime Heritage Complex (NMHC) near the ancient port site of Lothal. It is expected to be open to the public by 2023. The location of the museum is particularly significant with Lothal being one of the earliest port cities in the world.

A maritime nation needs to commemorate its seafaring saga and coastal identity. The Indian Ocean has been a major means of communication from the earliest times when long-distance oceanic navigation between the eastern coast of Africa to the southeast part of Asia bridged by this dominating geographical entity, India, extended even beyond this region to much of Europe for many millennia. It has witnessed extensive maritime trade, naval expeditions and pilgrimages across the ocean routes. Oceanic activity in the region encouraged by the unique feature of monsoons allowed countries to have active participation in maritime trade thus creating a long history covering over five millennia, from the dawn of the Harappan civilisation. Therefore, maritime history and heritage bear testimony to our strong connections and relationships with the sea.

Maritime heritage consists of historical and archaeological evidence revealing human interaction with the ocean and other marine bodies. The subject deals with a multitude of marine and coast related activities such as shipbuilding techniques, seafaring and navigation, ports, lighthouses and coastal communities, tourism, trade and commerce, traditional maritime practices, fishing, etc. The world that we see today is a result of such maritime expeditions combined with human inquisitiveness. The maritime activities of the past and present have led to cultural migration and the resulting assimilation has created global commerce that has influenced and changed the face of cultures all around the globe. For this reason, it is imperative that we honour this maritime legacy and celebrate the accomplishments of those who came before us.

Hidden from the public eye and despite the constraints of the pandemic induced lockdown, the Maritime History Society has sustained a nautical celebration called “Samudra Sindhu” in the form of an Interim Naval Heritage Gallery at the ground floor of the Noorbhoy Building in the Fort area of Mumbai. It has acquired and taken care of over 3000 books and documents of different genres and over 2000 artefacts from decommissioned naval ships. In the past 43 years, under the guidance of our patrons, curators and visionaries, the Maritime History Society has deepened the realms of maritime history and heritage with significant and consistent efforts. A team of young interns are attempting to make a coherent catalogue of an assortment of memorabilia from decommissioned naval ships along with a few collections gathered over time. 

Today as we celebrate International Museum Day, it would have been a good idea to spend the day at a museum, these experiences are sadly thwarted due to the pandemic induced lockdown. A large number of museums have chosen to go the virtual way, making their collection digital and curating virtual exhibitions on a wide array of topics. The National Museum in New Delhi, The British Museum, The Louvre, Van Gogh Museum, etc. are just a few examples of museums offering virtual tours for people to enjoy the feel of a museum from the comfort of their own homes. The virtual realm offers a huge variety of techniques to convert the physical experience of a museum into a virtual one. Following in the footsteps of these museums, Maritime History Society is coming up with a virtual experience as a digital episode of Samudra Sindhu, very soon.

To celebrate International Museum Day, the International Council of Museums (ICOM) releases a new theme each year. This year’s theme “The Future of the Museums: Recover and Reimagine” focuses on rethinking the museum of the future to meet the challenges of the present. Like everything else, the museum and heritage sector has been deeply affected by the ongoing crisis. With the restrictions on social and public places, we need to reimagine the museum spaces. There has been a considerable decrease in revenue generation, and with the budgets and funds redirected to handling the current emergency situation, many museums around the world are suffering huge losses. 

Museums are uniquely equipped to narrate the rich history of civilisation through the objects that are housed within its walls. And reimagining them in this current scenario involves getting these stories and objects out of those walls and into a digital platform or a screen. This is a task, though seemingly easy, requires a lot of theoretical and practical understanding of the digital realm. But, going virtual seems to one of the best ways forward to stay educationally and culturally relevant in this time and age. Investing in and maintaining a digital infrastructure to reach out to our audiences and engaging with them virtually is very important. We at MHS are striving hard to overcome these challenges and we invite you to collaborate and support our cause of preserving maritime consciousness. We invite you to become our brand partners for the projects we undertake regularly to contribute to knowledge and awareness about Indian maritime history based on the resources available with you.

Museology has always needed support and funding by the state despite the few success stories of private initiatives. Care is needed that private efforts, otherwise a welcome support to cultural promotion, do not cause cannibalisation of existing collections or promotion of exclusive agenda of a few. There is a need to have an integrated, research-supported, well patronised, financially sustainable journey to enhance influence to provide maritime consciousness, sea-mindedness and bring better awareness of the larger public into the maritime domain. Maritime History Society, which recently commemorated 43 years of maritime existence, needs to be supported in every way. Do visit the website www.mhsindia.org and reach out with archive support and financial assistance for this national cause.

Maritime History Society is an organisation where we invite enthusiasts in the maritime domain who can contribute to the richness and diversity of Indian maritime history and heritage. In its constant endeavours, we aim to promote outreach activities through our educational programmes, Summer School Programme, Internship Programme, our in-house Library, and MHS collections. MHS provides a plethora of opportunities to experience amazing expressions of creativity and contribute to bringing forth a new breed of intellectuals and scholars driven with a maritime outlook for the advancement of the nation.

Ashwini Nawathe is the Archive and Collections Associate at MHS. Leanne Thothiyil is a Research Assistant at MHS.

Nicholas Taleb described ‘Black Swan’ as an improbable event and random occurrence with extreme impact. ‘Grey Rhino’, on the other hand, as per Michele Wucker, is a highly probable event that may occur after a series of warnings and visible pieces of evidence with enormous impact. Originating from Wuhan, China, towards the end of 2019, coronavirus appeared as a ‘Black Swan’ creating havoc across the globe. In India it mutated into ‘Grey Rhino’, causing mayhem in the form of extreme disruption and destruction.    

It was during March last year that Covid-19 virus cases began to surface in India. Initially, the daily infection rate was barely in hundreds in comparison to Western nations where the count was in five figures, despite the advanced health care system. Given modest medical infrastructure and India is being predicted to be a potential hot spot, the Central Government declared nationwide lockdown towards late March 2020 to obviate a catastrophe. PM Modi addressed the nation frequently to sensitise the citizens about the consequences of the deadly virus.

 Starting with insufficient PPE kits, N-95 masks and testing facilities, the Indian medical fraternity led the charge against coronavirus, duly complemented by ‘Non-Profit Organisations’ corporates and the public at large. Despite severe hardships, migrants’ untold suffering and millions losing their livelihood, the nation reposed implicit faith in the PM-led campaign against the pandemic. By mid-February 2021, daily infections had dropped to around ten thousand after hitting the peak of nearly a lac. Corona appeared to be on the wane, given the assurances by the top leadership including the PM and Health Minister. The economy was showing signs of recovery and the business environment looked favourable, marked by a sense of optimism. Going by the indicators, apparently, the ‘Black Swan’ phase of the pandemic had been well handled. 

BLACK SWAN TO GREY RHINO: SLEEP WALK TO THE EDGE     

 Now there was a window of opportunity for the Central and State administrations to get the house in order and prepare earnestly for the pandemic’s second surge, evident from the experience of US and Western nations. Even the forum of scientific experts had warned the officials against a more contagious variant of the Covid-19 virus taking hold of the country. Hence, making up shortages of critical medical equipment and ramping up supply chains ought to have been taken upon the highest priority. As mass immunisation offered the best option to defeat the second wave, India was in a far better position than even the advanced nations due to its vast potential to produce vaccine doses. However, due to the Government’s reluctance to fund the capacity building of vaccine manufacturing firms, the advantage could not be leveraged.   

Ironically, complacency got better of prudence, faith trumped science and fixation with the election calendar threw all the Corona protocols to the wind. Assumptions like our young demographics and BCG vaccination provided us with special immunity against virus proved to be wishful speculations. Delusion of triumph against pandemic obfuscated all signs of impending disaster. The Covid-19 second wave did not turn into Tsunami overnight. The crisis had begun to loom large on the horizon towards the end of March. It appears India almost sleepwalked into the ‘Grey Rhino’ trap. 

It was only around 10 April when the daily cases crossed 150,000 that the panic button was pressed. By the end of April, daily Corona infections had breached the four lac mark. The health infrastructure in many states has been overwhelmed. The role of government machinery leaves much to be desired. With the situation having spun out of control, the nation today finds itself on the edge, many left to their own fate. It›s mid-May, the total infection stands at twenty-five million with over a quarter-million deaths. The daily cases continue to hover around 3.5 lakh, with approximately 4,000 deaths. 

INDIA FIGHTS BACK

 While intense fire fighting actions are on, adhocism and past assumptions are inadequate to solve the existing cataclysm. The need of the hour is adaptive leadership and strategic clarity. The toughest challenge facing the authorities is to reconcile to the fact that grievous lapses led to the current dire straits. Persistent efforts of the administration to play down the crisis and cacophony of blame game are most disheartening. Instead, what is needed is the correct diagnostic of the problems areas and formulation of actionable strategies by the experts to mitigate the crisis situations. To this end, the constitution of 12 members National Task Force (NTF) by the Supreme Court marks a step in the right direction. For effective results, the NTF should be empowered to take decisions and government officials must ensure a speedy implementation mechanism.        

  Currently, the most critical issues are the availability of oxygen, ICU beds and life-saving medical equipment. As for oxygen, the cruciality is not its shortage per se but the logistics constraints of the supply chains. Although the situation is now being addressed on a war footing by employing strategic air and naval assets and augmenting internal capacities, it’s going to take some time before the situation eases out. Therefore, judicious utilisation and prioritising the distribution of resources can considerably alleviate the criticality. Installing in situ oxygen plants in major hospitals must be done on the highest priority. Setting up field hospitals facilities utilising the resources of the armed forces, central agencies like DRDO, ISRO, PSUs and industry has come as a great relief at a very crucial juncture.                      

 During the calamities, the tendency of over-centralisation just cannot work, case in point initial blunder of virus testing restricted only to government labs. Delegation, deregulation and distribution of responsibility are the key essentials to handle unforeseen contingencies. In fact, the NGOs, local bodies, ‘resident welfare associations’ (RWAs) are already making yeoman contribution by setting up Covid beds and supplying life-saving equipment. I can personally vouch for it being part of some of these initiatives. Incidentally, in China, the ‘Residential Committees’ (Juzhu Weiyuan Hui) played a pivotal role in controlling the coronavirus. One of the serious shortcomings still is the lack of real-time information regarding the availability of beds and critical medicines. Here, well organised ‘Covid Care Centre’ in each major city/town can prove to be of immense value and bolster much needed public confidence.     

 It is most unfortunate that bureaucratic procedural norms continue to hamper the import of critical medical equipment and speedy distribution of foreign assistance material to the states. ‘Crisis Management Teams’ composed of logistics experts must be deployed at key nodal centres to handle this issue, as each minute the lives are being lost. During such abnormal times, the leaders in public life should be visible on the ground. Ironically, most appear to be missing in action. The political parties have substantial resources at their disposal. Instead of indulging in petty squabbles, it is a great opportunity for these organisations to contribute in the hour of crisis by throwing open their facilities for the good of the fellow countrymen.            

   There is a need for a clear overall strategy. The topmost priority ought to be in saving precious lives and bringing down the infections rate. Besides lockdowns, strict adherence to regulations pertaining to public behaviour, prioritising allocations of resources and capacity building merit immediate attention. The medical supply chains need to be reconfigured and the expertise of multinationals like Amazon and Flipkart could be ideally exploited. Measures must be put in place in anticipation of the third wave in view of the new variant of virus and vulnerability of the under18 population. A long term strategy is needed to fix the public health system which is currently in shambles. 

The vaccination programme has to move in tandem as it is the best defence against future waves. The strength of pharmaceutical companies should be leveraged to boost the production of vaccines, alongside seeking immediate IPR waiver. The current pace of daily vaccination which is barely 2 million needs to be accelerated significantly. Pricing must be standardised and Central Government should compensate the Pharma companies for subsidising the vaccines. For those ‘below the poverty line’ vaccination must be free.

  As a nation, we have tremendous resilience to bounce back during adverse situations but have a poor record in anticipating these. We tend to believe in fait accompli, ignoring the science, besides avoiding introspection of lapses, thus missing out on valuable lessons. Even our strategic community is more at ease with hindsight wisdom than prognostics. History tells us, ‘If you don’t learn from history, you are bound to suffer it.’

  India will win the fight against the pandemic, primarily due fortitude and forbearance of ordinary citizens- the real Victors. Nonetheless, the leadership of the day owes to the countrymen a solemn commitment; “never again will India fall victim to ‘Black Swan’ or ‘Grey Rhino’ phenomenon”.

The author is a war Veteran, former Assistant Chief Strategic; Currently Professor Geo Strategy & Management Studies, Distinguished Fellow at United Institution of India.