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- How Amravati Sailed The Covid Delta Wave
Amravati district was where Delta cases first emerged in the country, triggering the devastating second wave. Strengthening of the healthcare system, exemplary dedication of the medical and paramedical staff and selfless service by the administration in the hour of crisis brought the challenging situation under control
Bhaurao ji Bhadaji Punase, aged 94, and Indubai, his wife, aged 89, were admitted to the district Covid hospital in Amravati. Both of them swirled between life and death but to everyone’s surprise, aaji and aajoba were discharged healthy from the hospital after 20 days.
Another case of young Nikita, aged 22, who got infected with Covid in her late pregnancy, is noteworthy. She delivered a healthy baby girl through C-section despite the anxieties and uncertainties about the treatment. There are many such positive stories of optimism and commitment of the public sector personnel that showed the resilience and spirit of the employees who were a part of daily fight against the pandemic but these stories remained untold.
I, being the head of the district disaster management team, have been closely observing and managing the situation on the ground for the last one year and have a positive side to offer.
PUBLIC HEALTH SECTOR RESILIENCE
On March 22, 2020, the nationwide lockdown was imposed to contain the spread of Covid. Our health and administrative staff were not at all prepared or oriented to tackle the virological disaster of this magnitude. There were many unanswered questions in the minds of medical staff — what is the behaviour of the virus, how to control it, how to treat it?
The first case in the district was reported in April 2020. Though the medical staff were all in panic and fear due to the risk associated, it was only the government hospital that took the lead to care for the affected patients. Despite there being an order by the government, initially, no private hospital showed any interest in the treatment of Covid patients. Even today, considering the cost involved in the treatment, a majority of the population still depends upon the government health facility for its treatment.
PERCEPTION OF THE IVORY TOWER ADMINISTRATION
For most people, the perception is that ‘the civil servant is not reachable’. Once the lockdown was announced in March, to facilitate and ease the hardship of the people who were stuck at different places, the government shared district magistrates’ contact details — personal, official and landline. I personally attended 400 calls every day from people across the district, attending to their problems. My daughter once drew a family picture where I was shown holding a phone on my one ear and doing work from the other. The scenes of people moving to their hometown on foot and private buses caught the eye of many. But believe it or not, it was only a fraction of the population. It was due to the Herculean and planned efforts of the grassroot administrative staff that enabled more than 24,000 people to reach their home safely and timely. This untiring and coordinated efforts made by the administration was hailed by the migrants themselves, chants of ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’ and ‘thank you, sahib’ while boarding the train gave goosebumps to onlookers.
INVOLVEMENT OF CIVIC SOCIETY
The appeal made by the administration to the Good Samaritans evoked the best response. Around 21 organized groups and a large number of self-motivated individuals came forward, providing more than 15 lakh food packets to the neediest with support from the administration.
Rather than going for a coercive measure for starting or converting a medical facility for Covid treatment, counselling and facilitation of the doctors was done. An innovative trend of doctors taking up marriage halls and hotels and converting them into the hospital came up. The number of beds in the district almost doubled with 50 percent coming up in the private sector which mobilized the untapped and unutilized resources in the hour of the unprecedented natural calamity.
THE DELTA VARIANT
The lull after the first wave gave breathing time to the administration for preparation, unlike what has been portrayed as complacency. Amravati district was the first to witness the storm post the first wave and caught the eye of national and international health professionals during the surge that started in February 2021. Amravati district had seen a peak of 7,713 in September 2020 and in May 2021, there was a four-fold increase in the number of cases (27,000). Though the exact number of deaths increased from 142 to 300, the CFR decreased from 2.2 to 1.4. While the oxygen beds were increased two-fold to 1,189, the number of ICU beds were trebled from 280 to 750 and total ventilator supported beds were doubled from 180 to 400. Health care facilities at tehsil level were strengthened with 20 bedded oxygen supported beds made available at every tehsil. At every sub district hospital, a dedicated ICU and ventilator-supported bed were provided. The move reflected swift movement and decision-making to keep pace with the increasing severity of Covid and preparation of the health infrastructure in record time.
Besides this, the ‘Oxygen team’ was formed at the state and district level. On May 12, the dean of medical college made a panic call late at night, informing that oxygen was running out of stock which could endanger the lives of 30 patients which was handled in a record two hours by the team and averted a tragedy. A more scary incident happened on May 25 when the main oxygen generation plant, on which depended the supply of the entire Amaravati district, broke down. I called upon the nearby districts and the state oxygen team which helped in immediate movement of oxygen to ensure a smooth supply.
When we talk about unpreparedness, the economist in me ponders upon these questions: Are we a resource surplus country? Do we have the luxury to plan and forecast and provide our resources for a situation which may or may not occur? Our competing demands for various needs with the given budget does it give us enough liberty? The containment of the second wave, despite the origin of the Delta variant from the district, the strengthening of the health care system, the exemplary dedication of the medical and paramedical staff, the selfless and responsive service put in the hour of crises by the administration team made me wonder whether the government system has failed or was it just overburdened?.
(Nawal is ex-collector of Amravati district and now deputy secretary)
Bhaurao ji Bhadaji Punase, aged 94, and Indubai, his wife, aged 89, were admitted to the district Covid hospital in Amravati. Both of them swirled between life and death but to everyone’s surprise, aaji and aajoba were discharged healthy from the hospital after 20 days.
Another case of young Nikita, aged 22, who got infected with Covid in her late pregnancy, is noteworthy. She delivered a healthy baby girl through C-section despite the anxieties and uncertainties about the treatment. There are many such positive stories of optimism and commitment of the public sector personnel that showed the resilience and spirit of the employees who were a part of daily fight against the pandemic but these stories remained untold.
I, being the head of the district disaster management team, have been closely observing and managing the situation on the ground for the last one year and have a positive side to offer.
PUBLIC HEALTH SECTOR RESILIENCE
On March 22, 2020, the nationwide lockdown was imposed to contain the spread of Covid. Our health and administrative staff were not at all prepared or oriented to tackle the virological disaster of this magnitude. There were many unanswered questions in the minds of medical staff — what is the behaviour of the virus, how to control it, how to treat it?
The first case in the district was reported in April 2020. Though the medical staff were all in panic and fear due to the risk associated, it was only the government hospital that took the lead to care for the affected patients. Despite there being an order by the government, initially, no private hospital showed any interest in the treatment of Covid patients. Even today, considering the cost involved in the treatment, a majority of the population still depends upon the government health facility for its treatment.
PERCEPTION OF THE IVORY TOWER ADMINISTRATION
For most people, the perception is that ‘the civil servant is not reachable’. Once the lockdown was announced in March, to facilitate and ease the hardship of the people who were stuck at different places, the government shared district magistrates’ contact details — personal, official and landline. I personally attended 400 calls every day from people across the district, attending to their problems. My daughter once drew a family picture where I was shown holding a phone on my one ear and doing work from the other. The scenes of people moving to their hometown on foot and private buses caught the eye of many. But believe it or not, it was only a fraction of the population. It was due to the Herculean and planned efforts of the grassroot administrative staff that enabled more than 24,000 people to reach their home safely and timely. This untiring and coordinated efforts made by the administration was hailed by the migrants themselves, chants of ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’ and ‘thank you, sahib’ while boarding the train gave goosebumps to onlookers.
INVOLVEMENT OF CIVIC SOCIETY
The appeal made by the administration to the Good Samaritans evoked the best response. Around 21 organized groups and a large number of self-motivated individuals came forward, providing more than 15 lakh food packets to the neediest with support from the administration.
Rather than going for a coercive measure for starting or converting a medical facility for Covid treatment, counselling and facilitation of the doctors was done. An innovative trend of doctors taking up marriage halls and hotels and converting them into the hospital came up. The number of beds in the district almost doubled with 50 percent coming up in the private sector which mobilized the untapped and unutilized resources in the hour of the unprecedented natural calamity.
THE DELTA VARIANT
The lull after the first wave gave breathing time to the administration for preparation, unlike what has been portrayed as complacency. Amravati district was the first to witness the storm post the first wave and caught the eye of national and international health professionals during the surge that started in February 2021. Amravati district had seen a peak of 7,713 in September 2020 and in May 2021, there was a four-fold increase in the number of cases (27,000). Though the exact number of deaths increased from 142 to 300, the CFR decreased from 2.2 to 1.4. While the oxygen beds were increased two-fold to 1,189, the number of ICU beds were trebled from 280 to 750 and total ventilator supported beds were doubled from 180 to 400. Health care facilities at tehsil level were strengthened with 20 bedded oxygen supported beds made available at every tehsil. At every sub district hospital, a dedicated ICU and ventilator-supported bed were provided. The move reflected swift movement and decision-making to keep pace with the increasing severity of Covid and preparation of the health infrastructure in record time.
Besides this, the ‘Oxygen team’ was formed at the state and district level. On May 12, the dean of medical college made a panic call late at night, informing that oxygen was running out of stock which could endanger the lives of 30 patients which was handled in a record two hours by the team and averted a tragedy. A more scary incident happened on May 25 when the main oxygen generation plant, on which depended the supply of the entire Amaravati district, broke down. I called upon the nearby districts and the state oxygen team which helped in immediate movement of oxygen to ensure a smooth supply.
When we talk about unpreparedness, the economist in me ponders upon these questions: Are we a resource surplus country? Do we have the luxury to plan and forecast and provide our resources for a situation which may or may not occur? Our competing demands for various needs with the given budget does it give us enough liberty? The containment of the second wave, despite the origin of the Delta variant from the district, the strengthening of the health care system, the exemplary dedication of the medical and paramedical staff, the selfless and responsive service put in the hour of crises by the administration team made me wonder whether the government system has failed or was it just overburdened?.
(Nawal is ex-collector of Amravati district and now deputy secretary)
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