In times of national crisis, people look to their politicians for leadership and direction. Until recently, Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had confronted few, if any, significant challenges that were not substantially of his own making. Then came the Covid-19 pandemic, and the health of the people in his state depends on the competence of the chief minister and his team to confront this deadly global threat.
“Number of cases in the state is growing rapidly, and our health system is ill equipped to determine the scope of the disease or to treat the explosion of serious cases,” Naidu often argued. The number of corona cases in Andhra Pradesh rose to 365 with six deaths, and there are steps the administration could have taken to reduce the impact of the public health crisis. What has gone wrong? The Jagan administration has made five major mistakes.
Mistake One: Jagan and his team failed to initiate swift, clear and aggressive action before the virus entered the state. The Jagan administration had failed to prepare for the probability that AP would face a major global health challenge. Rather than heed the warnings of Opposition leaders like Chandrababu Naidu and chalk out effective planning, the chief minister had ignored the risk of a pandemic. Having combated the H1N1 swine flu pandemic, HudHud cyclone and other such threats, the Naidu administration not only foresaw such risks but prepared for them. Jagan and his loyalists were more concerned about the elections to local bodies. They were busy presenting their case before the SEC and the Supreme Court after the polls were deferred.
Mistake Two: Jagan has misled and outright lied to the people of Andhra Pradesh about the severity of the coronavirus. He said “the virus from South Korea is not such a big threat” and that there was “no need to press panic button”. The virus, he said, was like common cold and fever. Pop Paracetamol, spray bleaching powder and the virus will vanish was how Jagan argued. Such casual approach from a well-educated Chief Minister? Result: 365 positive cases and counting, six lives.
Mistake Three: The Jagan administration has failed to make a sufficient supply of test kits available in a timely manner. Healthcare workers rely on personal protective equipment to protect themselves and their patients from being infected and infecting others. But shortages have left frontline medical warriors ill-equipped to care for corona virus patients due to limited access to supplies such as N95 masks, gloves, respirators, gowns etc. “We can’t stop the virus without protecting health workers first,” Naidu reminded the Jagan administration. This too was ignored.
Mistake Four: Instead of ensuring adequate medical supplies, the state government had enforced ESMA against the medical workers including doctors, nurses and paramedics without giving a proper reason or logic for imposing such a draconian measure. In what can be a glaring example of shortage of medical supplies, four health workers (two doctors, two nurses) of a private hospital in Anantapur contracted the virus while treating a 58-year-old Covid-19 patient who died later. The doctors are now refusing to work. Will the government safeguard their lives or impose ESMA against them? Further, the voice of a doctor in Narsipatnam who raised the issue of acute shortage of medical equipment supplies was silenced. The doctor was suspended for raising his voice for a just cause. Freedom of speech and expression is guaranteed under Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution of India.
Mistake five: Not making enough corona tests. People in Andhra Pradesh who fear infection and present symptoms but cannot demonstrate travel-related risk or exposure to someone infected are not being tested, contended Naidu. The opposition leader said the number of cases in the State is growing rapidly, and the healthcare system is ill equipped to determine the scope of the disease or to treat the explosion of serious cases. The YSRCP government has been under-reporting the cases at a time when other states such as Kerala has managed to check the spread of the virus by bringing transparency in testing. AP should step up testing facilities on a war-footing to identify and isolate positive cases for prevention of virus transmission, Naidu pleaded. The TDP boss asked the government to ramp up the manufacturing of medical devices like rapid testing kits and ventilators to help patients affected by the corona virus. This too was initially ignored.
