SHILLONG, May 14: With the cases of COVID-19 increasing exponentially in Meghalaya, experts believe a complete lockdown could help arrest the infection.
The Shillong Times on Friday spoke to some medical experts to seek their views on how the situation can be brought under control.
Dr Daljit Singh Sethi said, “We are too late. With our limited resources, the only hope now is prevention and complete lockdown.”
Pointing out the state’s limited resources in terms of medical capability in handling critical cases, he said, “You can buy medical equipment but you cannot buy doctors and trained manpower in such a short time to handle critical cases.”
Stressing on the need for the government to develop better healthcare facilities in rural areas before the third wave strikes the state, Dr Sethi said the state had an opportunity to deal with the pandemic by boosting vaccination and now when people are responding positively to get vaccinated, there is a shortage of vaccines. “The best method that could have been implemented earlier was a complete lockdown,” he said.
Expressing concern over reports that the actual cases may be upto 25 times the numbers recorded, he said even if one per cent of those cases become critical, the state does not have the resources to deal with them.
He said a government must adequately spend on healthcare. He lamented that India’s total health expenditure has been a measly 3.7 per cent of the GDP compared to 17 per cent in the US.
Dr Werlok Kharshiing, who is the Chairman of Woodland Group of Hospitals, recalled that the government had last year set up corona care centres throughout the state for asymptomatic patients where they were isolated for 10-14 days. “But this time, they are asking all the patients to go for home isolation. In our state, we have many families with small houses and most of them stay in rented accommodations. There is every possibility that they will infect others,” he said.
He lamented that not many people wear a mask and many wear it on their chin.
Asked about the increasing number of deaths in the pandemic, Dr Kharshiing said the infection rate is very high and there is no monitoring of a patient’s condition during home isolation.
Dr Synrang Warjri suggested the government to set up dedicated COVID hospitals to handle the rising caseload.
“There is a sudden rush of COVID cases at the hospitals and it is only a matter of time before they are overwhelmed. We need to stick to the basic protocols like last year — social distancing, mandatory mask-wearing and frequent hand sanitising. They remain the most important measures,” he said.
On vaccination, he said, “Quicker vaccination drive will let more people acquire immunity and control the spread.”
“Vaccination is the key. We have to vaccinate a maximum number of people as early as possible or else we will be soon looking at a third wave,” he warned.
He maintained that patients with moderate or severe symptoms like breathlessness, fluctuating oxygen saturation, severe diarrhoea, intractable vomiting, confusion, drowsiness or change in behaviour should seek admission in hospitals. Eighty per cent of all COVID patients have mild or no symptoms and can be managed at home, he added.
