Finally, the J&K UT Administration has constituted a Crisis Management Group (CMG) led by the Chief Secretary to monitor the scary Covid-19 situation in the Union Territory and tasked to take preventive, control and mitigating measures. Though belated yet the step taken is appreciable that the J&K administration has ultimately realised the seriousness of the chaotic conditions.
While the scenario of few worst Covid hit states is frightening, the situation in Jammu and Kashmir is no better if not worse. The recent tragedy occurred at ASCOMS commonly known as Batra Hospital where the relatives of the deceased accused the Hospital of not providing Oxygen to their patients.
There can be no excuse or justification over the heavy toll of lives in this UT where the already overstrained healthcare systems have more or less collapsed in the face of the massive surge in cases. People are dying not just of the virus infection but because they are unable to access basic healthcare to fight the infection like hospital beds, medicines and worst of all, Oxygen for the seriously ill.
Thank God, the J&K is directly administered by the Centre thus better guidance and cooperation must be flowing in and there is no room for the blame game, a familiar trend going on between states and the Centre where the states are being governed by the opposition parties.
Another incident for the rising tide of justified public anger is failure to kick-start vaccination of a more mobile population of 18 years and plus age group. It was the panicked announcement of the opening up of vaccination for the younger mobile age group but later cancelled such bookings due to a lack of vaccines or chocking of registration App. It points to a failure of governance cutting across the board, from the highest echelons to the humblest local governments.
More important is that the CMG will be meeting daily and more often to:
– Review the rapidly evolving COVID-19 in terms of cases, testing rates, positivity, mortality, recovery, hospital occupancy and other parameters.
– Review the Oxygen and medicine requirement and availability at all health institutions.
-Take immediate measures for preventing the spread, control the infection and manage the availability of resources.
– Monitor the vaccine rollout and fine-tune vaccination strategies to ensure speedy and complete coverage at the earliest.
– Take other steps with the overall goal of controlling the spread of the disease.
We may pin a hope that the CMG that comprises of five senior-most experienced bureaucrats and LG's Principal Secretary as a special invitee would be plugging the gaps wherever necessary in an effective manner and will be able to control the deteriorating situation with better Covid management with the help of medical specialists.
