Bhubaneswar: Only a few times in the history of mankind have human beings as a race faced challenges beyond their comprehension like current situations arising due to the COVID-19. In this grave situation, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s call to everybody is “Extraordinary circumstance demands extraordinary response”.
With this philosophy, Patnaik is coming up with all new and innovative approaches to deal with corona pandemic and becomes the forefront leader in India’s fight against COVID-19.
Over 8, 00,000 people have been infected with the Coronavirus across the globe, with global death toll rising to 42,000. In India too the number cases have spiked to 1,637 and the death toll has jumped to 38. However, in Odisha, the situation remains under control with just four positive cases reported and zero fatality so far.
Even before anyone had tested positive for Coronavirus infection in Odisha, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik wasted no time in declaring it a disaster as per the National Disaster Management Act. Probably taking clue from Odisha, the Government of India declared it to be a notified disaster the very next day.
In fact, before the entire nation could be declared under a lockdown, Patnaik had already announced “a near total-lockdown” of districts and towns in Odisha.
A day after rushing to recruit a large number of doctors and paramedical staff to fight COVID-19, the Odisha government announced its decision to build two hospitals in Bhubaneswar for treatment of coronavirus patients. The government signed MoUs with two of the leading private medical colleges in the State—Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) and the Institute of Medical Sciences & SUM Hospital—for the creation of two hospitals with combined 1000-bed capacity exclusively for COVID-19 patients, and they are to be ready in next few days. They will be established away from existing hospitals in order to minimise the chance of transmission to others. Odisha is the first State in the country to plan facilities exclusively for COVID-19 treatment on such a large scale to handle a possible rush of patients. “The announcement for the hospitals with a capacity of 1,000 beds has been made keeping an unprecedented situation in mind.
Sensing that the existing health workforce would fall short in the event of community spread, the government has issued advertisements for engaging additional number of qualified specialists, doctors, and staff nurses and other paramedics to serve the people on short-term contract for a period of three months.
In order to expand isolation bed capacity, the government has set up isolation camps in all 6,798 gram panchayats in the State. School buildings have been notified as prospective isolation facilities. In urban areas, the government is looking at using the large number of hostel rooms in engineering colleges which were shut earlier this month.
In order to ensure strict home quarantine, the State government has come up with the idea of pasting stickers on the homes of those who have been placed under home quarantine. The sticker mentions the duration of home quarantine and details of the house and family too. Clear instructions should be given to the community for no one to visit the home. The government has made it clear that home quarantine does not mean social boycotting.
To keep medicines stocks ready during the time of crisis, the Odisha State Medical Corporation has declared incentives for early delivery of medicines and medical equipment, such as 50 per cent extra money for delivery in seven days, 25 per cent extra for delivery in 15 days and 10 per cent extra for delivery in 30 days. Full cost of transportation along with full payment within 24 hours of delivery has been assured. Ever since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, more than 78,000 inter-State migrant workers have returned to their homes. They have been advised to follow home isolation protocols. Panchayat representatives have been asked to keep a tab on them.
Keeping the virus’ potential threat to communities in mind, the government approved the COVID-19 Odisha Regulations, 2020, and earmarked Rs.200 crore to augment the Public Health Response Fund.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s statement in the State Assembly provided the desired seriousness to the administration as well as the general public. “Only a few times in the history of mankind have human beings as a race faced challenges beyond their comprehension. With advances in science, this phenomenon has become a rarity,” he said, by way of outlining the gigantic challenge. “The World Health Organisation has declared COVID-19 as a global pandemic. It has urged upon all member-states to take urgent and aggressive action to contain the spread of the pandemic. This extraordinary circumstance calls for an extraordinary response,” he added.
The State governments devised a specific response against the possible spread of the coronavirus from people returning from foreign travel. Declaring that people coming from abroad were the biggest source of infection, the government made it mandatory for such persons to register themselves within 24 hours of arrival with all contact details in the toll-free number 104 or the online portal https://covid19.odisha.gov.in. It incentivized the step by offering Rs.15,000 to each person registering their details.
In order to keep elderly people indoors, the government released food entitlement for three months under the National Food Security Act, including delivery at the doorstep without the requirement of biometric verification. The government also started the process of disbursing three months’ pension to the aged and persons with disabilities. Although some of the steps taken by the government appeared to be small, they had a huge impact as far as social distancing is concerned. Vegetable markets were closed in the evening hours and the sale of subsidised cooked food at Aahaar centres was prolonged. These measures helped disperse the crowd.
The government has chalked out a six-month action plan. Keeping the possible burden on public health infrastructure in mind, it released Rs.5 lakh to every panchayat to convert panchayat buildings into isolation wards. At many blocks, schools were declared quarantine facilities. Three hotels in Bhubaneswar city were declared as pay-and-use quarantine facilities for tourists and guests.
An amount of Rs 200 crore has been earmarked to augment the Public Health Response Fund to combat the threat of the pandemic and for making the required expenditure,” Patnaik said in a statement in the state Assembly.
The Chief Minister has also roped in the Women Self-Help Groups (WSHGs) of “Mission Shakti” for community sensitization and awareness generation.
Supporting the Odisha Government’s crucial initiatives in responding to the global pandemic of Coronavirus, the WSHGs across rural and urban areas of the state have shouldered many vital responsibilities during this pandemic, such as producing masks and hand sanitizers, distribution of grocery items, and delivery of meals at the doorstep of the people.
With all his vast experiences in dealing successfully natural disasters in the past, Naveen again shows the path to others when human race is facing a crisis.
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