While the authorities have been rejoicing in the fact that India has a much lower death rate per million due to COVID-19 but there is much discussion left on it. Let's have a closer look at the reasons of the state as to why they have chosen to keep the public in the dark in a democracy.
Save from mass hysteria.
Governments around the world are trying to avoid having a mass hysteria about the COVID-19 cases, they just don’t want to give out real number so that the less smart people who don’t have proper tools to comprehend the situation don’t create mass hysteria and go on a panic mode to create unnecessary stress on medical system, we have already witnessed the case of panic shopping which has presented a nasty image of an uncivilized society with us, there was a time when people used to share essential commodities and now there is a time when people are fighting for the same, so this nasty picture is not a random development. Also, when such a type of news gets out, there are more chances that there might be a sharp jump in crime rates around the nation. So, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt that they want the condition to be under control.
Save the government from collapsing.
When there is a news that the govt has failed to fight or make a proper strategy to deal with the present conditions it means that the govt they have chosen for themselves is in question, it is not credible and strong enough to deal with these type of conditions and this trust deficit can cost a nation to collapse, and not to mention the internal disturbance which will be created and then the vicious cycle of domino effect that would be unleashed. It would be a diabolical situation and can get nasty with each passing day.
Rate of success
The rate of low death is also associated with the rate of success in handling the pandemic more efficiently, meaning that the less dead people the more the credibility in the govt and hence a cleaner image, that they are successful to control the pandemic and hence they are best managers people can ever get, hence, creating an image of strong, resilient, competent and better-organized government.
The case of India
The curious case of India is none different from the standard protocols and logical conclusions, the present govt is also behind hiding the data of how many people have died of COVID-19 in a day in a particular region, the state, in multiple instances tried to hide the real-valued of COVID-19 cases both active and dead, in initial days it shut down the website COVID-19india.org later it was restored, then another website which was maintained by collaborative efforts with crowd information named COVID-1919india.org was shut down, again to be restored later, it just shows the fear of state to be portrayed as a loser.
Fewer deaths reported
Recently, a news report said that a mortuary worker has accused the state of hiding the number of deaths in Gandhi hospital, Telangana (15 Jul 2020 deccan chronical), this raises a serious question that if deaths are less reported then what makes us think that the number of positive cases will be reported rightly? Is it not obvious that these numbers will also be fabricated? To suit their claim that the state is successful in controlling the pandemic?
The reason for less testing
The most curious part of all this is despite having developed the cheapest testing kit, India ranks behind testing per million cases, so much so that the pharma testing kit companies had to seek permission from the govt as to sell their kits abroad, the reason cited was that first the DGCI (Drugs Controller General of India) delayed their approval despite applying early and having right permissions from them.
Take the example of HLL Life Care, a central government-owned company. The NIV cleared HLL’s rapid testing kits on April 4, said an official of the company who did not want to be identified. But the company could not start production right away – it had to apply for a manufacturing licence from the Drug Controller General of India, who heads the Central Drug Standards and Control Organisation, which gives licenses for import and manufacture of all drugs and diagnostics in India.
“We applied to DCGI the very next day,” said the HLL official. But the licence came only a week later, on April 13.
Other companies have also complained about being held up by the DCGI (5 April 2020 quint) despite being given a go-ahead by NIV, Pune. The Drug Controller General of India, VG Somani, did not respond to queries about these alleged delays.
The regulatory hurdles are only exacerbating an already slow process that scientists say is crucial to unravelling the mysteries of India’s coronavirus outbreak. (18 April 2020 scroll.in)
These instances of Red tape have become very common in India, even at the time of the pandemic. Will India not change its old ways even when lives are at stake?
The second big reason for not testing is the same, which is discussed at the start of the article, image!! The state wants to have a clean image stating that we are far more successful than any nation when it comes to the matter of controlling, it's like the old proverbial pigeon which closes its eyes when it saw a cat coming towards it, but lest did it know that closing your eyes will not save you from the reality, the government is this proverbial pigeon…
Despite the WHO and various other medical organizations saying that having a high number of cases is good for the health of a nation as it stops further infection, our smart bureaucrats and government don’t seem to get it at all.
As predicted by the MIT researchers that India may see 2.87 lakh cases per day during winter, this doesn’t seem to budge the Indian authorities (8 Jul 2020, economic times), let us hope that this worse phase may pass soon, tough my speculations say something else, as monsoon fast approaching there might be an immediate jump in cases.
Let us hope for some positive news soon....
Comments
Post a Comment