Second wave; Unmasking Incredible India
The second wave of COVID-19 rekindles the traumatic scene where desperate faces of people running from pillar to post to get themselves basic healthcare facilities which were guaranteed by the constitution were denied to them. Scarcity of medical amenities isn’t a new issue that has emerged out rather it was always a challenge that was enlarging under the carpet. As per government reports, India has 1.7 nurses per 1,000 population and a doctor to patient ratio of 1:1,404 this is well below the WHO norm of three nurses per 1,000 population and a doctor to patient ratio of 1: 1, 100. The pandemic in the true sense has uprooted the issue that was behind the curtains for decades.
The images of burning pyres flooded over social media depicted how grave the situation was though the number of deaths from covid were being fudged. Officials who should have extended their hands for support were busy shielding the goodwill of the prime minister which drowned, by creating similar global news sites and tweeting as much as they can about his achievements while the youngsters turned their shoulders broad to reach out to the masses through social media to help people by stipulating verified leads.
The gravity of the situation in rural areas turned out to be more severe as people were firstly hesitant to accept that they are positive they treated it as a common cold and flu which lead to its rapid dissemination while the majority there encompasses the backward class who lacks economic resources and cannot get themselves treated in private hospitals, the availability of government hospitals is also not sufficient, the clinics located are at distant and aren’t equipped with required technology and doctors. The center should learn a lesson from the uncertainty of second wave and gear up for the upcoming third wave to avoid the consequences that it faced during the second wave.