Being at the bottom of the heap can at times also be cause for cheer of sorts, and Meghalaya finds itself right there — in terms of novel coronovirus cases among the states in the country. Complacency though, can change the equation and the government has its guard up.
“We are prepared and we are preparing, we cannot be complacent. Work is going on continuously. COVID -19 cases can rise as there is high transmission even as the economy slowly opens up. There will be cases, it is a virus but we have to manage”, Commissioner and Secretary, Health Department, Sampath Kumar told The Shillong Times in an interview on Sunday.
Excerpts from the interview:
TST: What are your strategies to contain COVID-19?
Kumar: We have been working with clear strategies from the beginning which were discussed in the Cabinet and these percolated down to different levels. Designing and implementing the strategy is important. Before, it was a pre-emptive strategy to prevent the disease, but now it is an adaptive strategy which is to adjust with the situation.
To understand the disease, we constituted the COVID Management Committee which consists of key government officials, public health professionals and also doctors from the private sector. It was a collaborative effort. We have also constituted the state response committee.
TST: How effective has been the strategy?
Kumar: We have applied a three-pronged strategy. The first is to use technology to potentially bring down the virus. For this, we keep a system of tracking the transmission of the virus as the disease has high transmissibility. Before the virus actually hit India, we had put in a system to track the transmission chain.
The second strategy is to strengthen the health system. COVID-19 is a new disease. We have to use Mathematics in dealing with the matter, say, how many beds we require. Earlier, we had a grilling video conference every day but now we have it on alternate days.
Our efforts are giving results. Even on Sunday, three persons recovered in the quarantine centres. It is a disease that does not require hospitalisation.
The third strategy is community capacity building and the COVID-19 management is a superb stroke. It is a strategy that involves the administration and the community – the headmen, the ASHAs etc. In the process, headmen were empowered. They know the protocols to be implemented and a proper system was put in place.
We see a problem and we find a solution, we have a lot of autonomy which helps to decide well. The COVID team and the district administration team follow an adaptive and decentralised leadership model.
TST: How did the government handle the situation from the beginning?
Kumar: How we handled it? By removing fear. Initially, there was a fear when the Pomlakrai case emerged, and we motivated and spoke to the headman. We were glad as the headman took positive action. It was a good collaborative model. As for stigmatisation, we have to be more compassionate. We did not disclose the names of the patients as we wanted to handle the situation in a sensitive manner.
On the other hand, we feel that a new strategy is also required. We found that the medical personnel go for 14 days of quarantine and during the period, there is shortage of manpower. For example, the pregnant woman who tested positive at NEIGRIHMS. In such a situation, we require care-givers.
We require a support system. Just as there are organisations that support HIV positive people, there should also be organisations who could come forward to give care to COVID positive patients.
TST: There was criticism over handling of the first case.
Kumar: We were shocked at the first case. However, slowly, we managed to overcome the difficulties. To manage the situation, we involved the people (Bethany medical staff) at the centre of the problem. We had also formed an internal medical committee for Bethany Hospital so that they could resolve their issues internally.
TST: What about opening up of more shops and markets?
Kumar: We are going to the next level as we are opening up slowly. We have to prepare ourselves as there can be more chances of transmission. But we also need livelihood.
We need to ensure that there is no loss of life. When opening up, we need to protect the elderly people and people suffering from co-morbidity. So, we decided to train all our elderly people and people suffering from co-morbidities. We individually want to go and train the elderly people.
Again, everyone should be conscious and we need to be responsible and we should give responsibility to people.
We have to learn a lot and in case of any worst-case scenario, we have to make a choice according to the evolving situation.
To handle the economic slowdown, the Chief Minister has constituted the Economic Task Force committee with an aim to form more self-help groups as these groups will have small savings. These small savings will help us in a big way so that we have some money for such possible scenario.
TST: What about the returnees?
Kumar: Out of over 14,000 returnees, 7000 were registered under MGNREGA and the remaining are skilled entrepreneurs and their skills will be used in the state.
Planning Department initiated an economic survey and 30,000 people have come forward to register themselves.
TST: How is government ensuring social distancing protocol and other health advisories?
Kumar: That is why we are laying stress on individualised training. The urge to observe protocols should come from within. We have to take care of our health and our livelihood.