For the past month, the Corona crisis of India has taken a terrible form. With the rise of the second deadly wave of infection, the speed of emergency medical supplies sent to India from all the countries of the world has also increased.
Since the beginning of last week, ventilators, medicines and oxygen equipment were flown in from India and Britain to reach India. By Sunday, 300 tons of relief material had reached the International Airport of Delhi alone by filling 25 aircraft.
But as the cases of corona infection in India are moving towards touching record levels, there are also increasing concerns about getting medical help from abroad to the needy.
During the last few days, the hospital kept on asking for more help, but the consignment of medical goods was lying at the airports. Delhi officials told local media that these goods could not be distributed till Tuesday evening. That is, it had been more than a week since the first batch of emergency help, but it could not reach the needy.
The Central Government categorically denied that it was late to extend this help from abroad to the needy. On Tuesday, he issued a statement saying, "He has started sharing this supply in a" smooth and orderly manner ". The Health Ministry said in its statement that it is working day and night to clear these "goods" from the airport and deliver them to the right place.
But the ground conditions are few. Officials in some states most affected by Covid told that they had not yet received any supply of medical help from outside.
Earlier this week, Corona recorded a record 37,190 cases in Kerala. But State Health Secretary Dr Rajan Khobragade told that Kerala had not received any consignment till Wednesday.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan telephoned Prime Minister Narendra Modi and asked him to send the imported oxygen consignment immediately. Seeing the huge need for medical oxygen in the country, he had asked for 'emergency' help from the PM.
In an open letter to the PM on Wednesday, he said that oxygen equipment should be provided on a priority basis to Kerala as his state is one of the most active Covid case states in the country.
Where is the medical help going?
According to some officials associated with the healthcare system of the country, they do not know when and how they will get this consignment of foreign help.
Very little information has been given by the central government about this and in some cases nothing has been told.
Dr. Harsh Mahajan, President, Healthcare Federation of India, said, "There is no information about where this help is being distributed."
The Healthcare Federation of India represents some of the largest hospitals in the country.
He said, "It seems that people don't know anything about this. I tried to find out about this in two-three places but failed. No clear information about where to get help." "Don't."
Some NGOs who have gone through this crisis are also unaware of this help. They say that they are frustrated at not getting any information in this regard.
Pankaj Anand, director of Program and Advocacy of Oxfam India, told , "I don't think anyone knows where this help is going. Ultimately, there is no such tracker on any website, which is your Address. "
Questions are also being raised in countries that help on missing information regarding the distribution of this relief material. In helpful countries, the question is arising again and again where this consignment of medical help is going.
The issue was also raised in a briefing of the US State Department on Friday. A journalist asked who would take accountability of the money of American taxpayers being sent to India. Is the US government finding out where this medical aid being sent to India is going?
In response, the US State Department spokesman said, "We want to assure you that America is committed to taking care of its partner India during this crisis."
Bibisi spoke to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) of Britain on this issue. asked if it had any information about where all the medical help, including 1000 ventilators sent from Britain, was distributed in India.
In response, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said, "Britain has been working with the Indian Red Cross and the Government of India to deliver medical equipment being sent to India as effectively as possible."
The office said, "This Government of India will decide where the medical help provided by Britain will be sent and what will be the procedure for sharing it."
Meanwhile, the opposition leaders in India have started asking the government for information about the methods of distributing medical help.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Kheda said, "We request and demand from the Government of India to tell every Indian where this help is coming from and where it is going to be. It becomes the responsibility of the government to tell this thing to the public."
'Smooth and orderly'
It took the central government seven days to make this 'smooth system' of transporting this supply of medical help to the states. The Union Health Ministry itself has said this.
In a press release, the Health Ministry said that it had started preparations on 26 April to distribute this help. How to distribute help, it released the standard operating procedure ie SOP on 2 May. It did not say when since the beginning of distributing help.
Despite reaching the consignment of help in the country, the process of its distribution is complex. It passes through many levels and consists of various ministries and external agencies.
Aircraft filled with relief material are handed over to the Indian Red Cross Society as soon as they reach India.
According to the government's statement, it is the responsibility of removing it from the Customs Department. After that, this consignment is handed over to another agency, HLL Lifecare. This agency then takes this stuff under its charge and sends it across the country.
The government admitted that since this supply comes in different forms, they have to be opened first and then re-packed. Only after that they are transported to the designated place. This delays delivery of relief material.
It was said by the government, "The quantity and quantity of goods coming from outside as medical help is different. They do not come once. They come in different numbers at different times. Many times these goods do not match the list. Then there is a difference in the number or quantity. They have to be calculated at the airport. "
Once the goods are repackaged, they are transported to the areas where the pressure of serious patients is highest. First, the goods are sent to where it is most needed.
'Works happening day and night'
The central government has claimed that it is working day and night to take these supplies to the most needed places due to the challenges of logistics. According to the government, by Tuesday evening, this relief material had been delivered to 38 institutions in 31 states.
An official from Punjab, one of the most heavily populated states of Corono, told the BBC on Wednesday that the state had received 100 oxygen concentrators and 2500 doses of the life-saving drug Remedisvir.
The Customs Authority of Chennai informed via Twitter that the Airforce airlifted the "first lot" of 450 oxygen cylinders from Britain to Chennai on Tuesday.
A government minister said on Tuesday that 1088 oxygen concentrators were brought from Hong Kong by plane. Of these, 738 were kept in Delhi and the remaining 350 were sent to Mumbai. Meanwhile, medical oxygen is being transported to Delhi from different parts of the country by trains. These trains are named "Oxygen Express".
"Oxygen is extremely important"
Despite these efforts, there is a huge shortage of medical supplies in India's hospitals. Medical oxygen has been the biggest casualty.
The cases of corona infection are increasing every day in the country.According to the Health Ministry, 4,12,262 new corona cases were reported on Thursday. This is still the record. On that day, 3980 people died of corona infection across the country. Last week, almost half of all the world's Kovid infected people were in India. According to the WHO, about a quarter of the total deaths due to Kovid are happening in India.
Despite this, some healthcare professionals are saying that they do not need foreign help immediately, but need to install a medical oxygen plant in the hospital itself.
Dr. Harsh Mahajan says, "At this time our problem is only one. And that is the lack of medical oxygen. Whether or not help comes from abroad, it doesn't matter much."
He says that the production of oxygen will change the situation. This is the most needed right now.The health ministry said in a tweet, "Two new oxygen plants have been set up in Delhi. They are producing 1000 liters of oxygen every minute. They will start supplying oxygen to thousands of Kovid patients in Delhi from Wednesday evening.
But for the health workers posted on the front of the Healthcare Emergency to fight the Kovid, the help needed to save the patients is eagerly awaited.
Dr. Mahajan says, "There is a lot of pressure on us. This wave of corona has hit us tremendously. It seems that this wave of corona is flying like a plane and going towards the sky."
You must be logged in to post a comment.