In all the years of my life— having been born and brought up in India— I have never seen an invisible tsunami hit millions of my countrymen and that too at such a harrowing swiftness. I do not hesitate in saying that we are under attack of an invisible enemy and we are moving the heavens and the earth to fight against it.
If we compare the statistics of the first and the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the later has been more lethal—71 lakh infections in 21 days is 7.1 million people getting infected across the country in just a matter of 21 days. These numbers are menacing enough to break the medical infrastructure of any country on the planet. The things went bad so swiftly that it caught the healthcare infrastructure off guard. This is the sole reason I call it a Tsunami, as it came with all the force and merely gave us any time to respond.
Talking of the culprit virus, with three mutations, this is a different creature altogether, and what we have seen and experienced, the way it behaves and acts, it is entirely different this time, throwing numerous challenges of enormous magnanimity at the medical fraternity, administration, and the law enforcement in unison— needless to say, my beloved countrymen are bearing the brunt too.
Under the able leadership of PM Modi, India got into the fighting gear timely, and we decided not to give up. Our response towards the second wave has been sturdy. Let us talk about a few pointers:
1. We increased our oxygen production by 30% in less than one month.
2. We used our air force and the biggest flying machines (for example C31 Hercules Globe Master) the world has ever made to do numerous sorties around the world to bring cryogenic tanks, oxygen cylinders, concentrators, and other essential medical amenities. On average, each Hercules did 400 plus trips in ten days.
3. We even air-lifted empty tankers to factories in these gigantic planes to save time.
4. The Railway came up with numerous coach hospitals and thus added thousands of mobile oxygen beds in hospitals on wheels to the country’s medical infra to battle the virus.
5. Multiple Oxygen Express on Green Corridor has been running around the country nonstop.
Morover, Indian Navy got huge quantities of LMO from across the world from a host of friendly countries.
Our ‘HCQ reach out’ and ‘Vaccine Maitri’ came to rescue and helped India to battle this crisis, and may I say with humility world came to our rescue; baring a few hostile countries. This has been possible because of the great vision of our Honorable PM and the incredible diplomacy of Dr. Jai Shanker Ji.
DRDO under the leadership of Rajnath Singh Ji came up with the easiest and affordable “make and install oxygen generator technology” in no time. From Anti Viral drugs to Rapid Antigen testing kits and setting up 500-bed Covid-19hospitals in a lot of districts of the country at a lightning-fast speed to helping civilians in all Military Hospitals is simply commendable.
Haryana Government, under the leadership of the honorable CM Manohar Lal Khatter, was quick to get in action and was swift to tackle the situation on the ground which included sending teams to all villages, making oxygens plants mandatory for all hospitals, Corona advisory on medicines to be used, and making sure that the tests happen across the nook and corner of State. In addition to hospitals and oxygen beds across the State, management of oxygen has been brilliant, so is the availability of critical medicines.
Gurugram is the land where I have grown up from a kid to what I am today. My home was one of the worst-hit districts in Haryana with approximately 25% of the total cases.
Our first step here was to assemble a team and mobilize the carders at the grass-root level. We set up a control room, which worked 24X7 to help people, and we ensured all essential drugs reach needy people.
Today the things are much under control and we are only left with 7000 active cases with an average recovery of 3500 per day, and new cases somewhere around 600 or less. Also, after coordinating with Anil Vijji and under the able guidance of Dr. Harsh Vardhan ji, we are aware of the possibility of a third wave and we have already put a plan in action to combat the same. We have increased the infrastructure at all levels— private and government. We are coming up with approx 500 plus new COVID facilities with oxygen and ICU beds with the help of Seva Bharti and my own resources.
This is just the beginning, as I know and believe that humanity has to prevail and we all need to works tirelessly till we defeat this virus and vaccinate all our adult population by the end of December 2021. Till that time we need to reinforce our defense and hold the fort, as precious human lives are at stake.
The writer is a BJP leader and the Member of Legislative Assembly from Gurugram. The views expressed are personal.