When the situation started deteriorating in beginning April the only Govt medical facilities available for almost 22 lakh people were 10 beds dedicated to Covid in the Zilla hospital. An additional 30 for Covid suspected patients and 60 beds in Chakiya block. The private hospitals were only tier 1 or 2 facilities not equipped to take on the onslaught.
According to Ganesh Prasad, “initially all of Chandauli had only two ventilators but hospital workers didn’t have the knowhow to operate them. Now they have converted Heritage Hospital – a women’s facility – into a 100-bed Covid facility with ventilators, being run by the government and private players. There is a lot of underreporting also. The official figures are a little more than 250 mortalities but it’s probably in excess of 500”.
Proper planning could have saved people
Satish Kumar Singh, a staff member of the Pandit Kamla Pati Tripathi Zilla Hospital at the Mukhyalay confirms these reports, “between the months of Phalgun and Chaitra the weather changes and people get fever. Doctors thought it was because of summer arriving. Nobody believed that such a thing could happen. If we had some preplanning we could have saved some people. We would see between 70 and 80 serious patients a day at the peak and about 150 outpatients. We had only oxygen. We didn’t have ventilator facilities. If they needed one they would be sent to Banaras, which was already overburdened.”
Satish Kumar says his family got infected but he was spared thanks to the Govt vaccination program. “I Don’ t think that the private hospitals have done as good a job as the govt hospitals in this district”.
He witnessed painful events in those days with a feeling of helplessness. “Around 9th April, a man from the village got his wife to the hospital. Her Spo2 had fallen to 50 – 60. We gave her O2 but she died during the night.
Her husband, who was at home, came some nights later with fever and breathlessness and also died before the morning. Their children are 4 and 6 years. The wife was 33 and the man around 40. If people like this got a ventilator we might have saved them. We could have saved at least 5 out of every 100 people who died”, says Satish Kumar.
23-year-old Kunvar Sidhartha Raj lost his father, a Govt schoolteacher, in the line of duty. Despite his family’s apprehensions, 55-year-old Rajkumar Ji from Basni Village, had to attend the mandatory training sessions for teachers on Panchayat poll duty, which were conducted beginning April. He fell ill on the 8th of April and died on the 11th night. “We couldn’t even admit him to hospital because they said they had no oxygen”, says Kunvar. Rajkumar Ji leaves behind 4 children, the youngest son being 9. So far there is no order for compensation says Kunvar.
Ready for third wave, says CM
In his latest press briefing in Noida, UP CM, Yogi Adityanath said that the Pandemic situation in the State is not out of control and that they are even prepared for a 3rd wave of Covid. However by all accounts UP is not yet finished with the second wave. Things may be coming under control in district headquarters but villages are struggling without adequate medical facilities. That the health infrastructure has now been ramped up is however welcome news.
More funds sent for Covid medical facilities
The MP of Chandauli district, Dr Mahendra Nath Pande is a revered Minister in the present Govt holding the portfolio for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. He was readily available for comment from Delhi, and did acknowledge that it’s been a tsunami like situation. Dr Pande said, “22 ventilators have now been provided. Oxygen beds are available in 4 places. The local MLAs have given Rs 80 lakh from their funds. Local construction projects that had started in village areas have been temporarily stopped and the money diverted for Covid and Rs 40 lakh not yet spent from the MP fund is also being used. 6 mini O2 plants have been set up and 60 O2 beds will have 24-hour supply. We are in discussions to set up 200 more O2 beds. The CMO has allotted Rs 2.5 crore to the constituency. Medical kits with Doxycyclin, vitamin C, etc are being distributed free of cost to villagers by Asha workers”. This has however only been made available as of early May after the dreadful toll of April.
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