Bhubaneswar: Ganjam has a distinct place among all the districts of Odisha. It is the most populous district in the State with diverse demographic characteristics. Its economy, while mostly dependent on agriculture and allied activities, is also dependent on the lakhs of migrants who primarily work in Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. After the announcement of the nationwide lockdown in the month of March, more than four lakh migrants returned to the district. This influx of a large number of migrants from some of the biggest hotspots of the country is mostly responsible for the spread of the Coronavirus in the district. The Odisha Government’s timely intervention and the best management strategies of the state administration helped in keeping the migrants in mandatory isolation centers and giving a check to the spread of the virus.
Today, the number of positive cases being reported in Ganjam may be largest in the state but they don’t indicate any immediate risk as the recovery rate is also one of the highest. Till date Ganjam has reported just more than ten thousand positive cases and about 7300 patients have recovered. It has one of the best recorded performances in terms of recoveries and treatment of patients. The Ganjam district administration took the early decision to set up a large number of Covid Care Centers and Special Covid Hospitals.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s special attention towards the district and deployment of additional resources and manpower in the district to fight the pandemic is showing results and the situation is signaling an improvement. With more than 40 lakh population and four lakh migrant returnees, the positive numbers are definitely don’t indicate any major issue. In the last few days, the positive numbers, which were on rise due to increase in testing, have shown a steady decrease from more than 700 per day to more than 300 cases per day.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who is directly supervising the situation in Ganjam, has taken a number of initiatives that had an immediate impact on the improvement in parameters. Taking into account the need of the hour, Naveen deputed two senior IAS officers, 18 senior OAS Officers and 77 ORS Officers to strengthen the official mechanism in the district. Likewise, 30 MBBS Doctors, 82 Ayush Doctors, and 27 lab technicians were deployed to reinforce the health infrastructure in Ganjam. All these initiatives helped in speeding up the testing, tracking and treatment of people both in the urban and rural areas. Two advanced life support ambulances with all state of the art equipments were deployed in Ganjam. The latest data shows that the number of active cases in the district is 3359, whereas it has the capacity to accommodate more than 9 thousand patients in various CCH, DCHC, CCC and Covid Hospitals.
Thrust on testing, tracking and treating of patients in the district has helped the administration in keeping the numbers in tab. Also, the stricter implementation of lockdown guidelines and social distancing norms, have helped a lot in managing the situation. Ganjam was the first district in the state to undertake Door to Door surveillance both in rural and urban areas to assess the health of the population. Also, most of the deaths that have been reported in the district have other ailments and comorbidites. The situation in Ganjam is not as bad as being portrayed in certain sections of social media.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s active supervision of the situation in the district has resulted in the increase in the number of special Covid Hospitals, availability of Doctors, Ambulances, TMCs, CCCs and other required health infrastructure. Naveen’s interaction with Adar Poonawala, the CEO of Serum Institute of India and placing Odisha as a priority also seems that the Chief Minister had Ganjam in mind. Starting of plasma therapy treatment in Berhampur also is a part of the multipronged approach to fight Covid-19 in the district.
The efforts to contain the pandemic in the district are bearing fruits as visible in the trends in Green and Zones. Continuous testing, tracking and treatment along with surveillance and maintenance of lockdown and shutdown guidelines have helped the number of red zones to decrease. Today, the percentage of Green Zones in the district with zero positive cases has increased to more than 86 percent. While 452 villages are in the Red Zone, 2705 villages are in the Green Zone (till the End of July 2020). It means, whatever positive cases are coming, are confined to a small percentage of area.
The BeMC has partnered with non-government organizations to provide counseling to all Covid positive cases in Berhampur to reduce anxiety and other complications resulting due to it. Regular feedback is taken, to ensure implementation of the suggestions received during the calls made for counseling.
The change in the scenario is also an outcome of the people’s resilience. As the people of Ganjam have shown their courage during natural disasters earlier, during this pandemic also their contribution and dedication is praiseworthy. Without their cooperation, the situation in the district would have been more serious than today. Adherence to social distancing norms and bearing the difficulties of lockdown and shutdown, the people of Ganjam have shown that they can do it.