Even as India battles the second wave of coronavirus infections, there are concerns about the possibility of a third wave hitting the country in the later part of this year. Top advisors of the central government have said a third wave is “inevitable”. However, its impact can be minimised.
Experts say the steps that we take now will determine the extent to which India will be affected by the third wave.
The second wave of Covid-19 infections exposed glaring loopholes in India's public health system. The country's response to the rapidly rising cases was crippled by an acute shortage of medical staff — doctors, nurses, paramedics, technicians — as well as shortage of beds, medical oxygen, ICU beds and ventilators.
To understand what India needs to do in order to prepare for the third wave of Covid-19, India Today TV spoke to Dr Ambrish Mithal, Chairman and Head of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Medanta, and Professor Giridhar Babu, a leading epidemiologist, on what the government and individuals could do to prepare in advance.
Here are their top five recommendations:
1) To prepare ourselves from a potential third wave of Covid-19, we have to ensure that we don't repeat mistakes that we made after the first wave. Before the third wave, we have to ensure that our public health system is capable of handling any surge in cases.
We should not dismantle our enhanced healthcare facilities, we should ensure that oxygen and beds' supplies are maintained, and also that there is no sudden drug shortage of the kind that we are witnessing now.
2) Preparing for the next wave also means that we should have an aggressive containment measure in place. For this, we need to have a really strong and pro-active surveillance system. This can be done only by expanding the reach and capacity of the existing surveillance system in terms of identifying cases as early as possible.
3) We have to ensure that we follow proper masking, avoid indoor gatherings, and the government messaging has to reinforce these points very strongly.
4) Our vaccination programme needs a boost. We need to vaccinate as many people as we can before any third wave hits us. The more we vaccinate, the better prepared we are.
5) In regard to medical professionals, it must be ensured that they implement proper scientific treatments while handling Covid-19 cases. But most importantly, this is the time to fill up vacancies in our public health system, especially for frontline workers.
Courtesy: Indiatoday
