Govt-pvt sector barriers came down during Covid-19: Dr. Trehan

If by the end of January, we have not seen a third wave, we will need to evaluate: Noted expert in conversation with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now

GN Bureau | November 22, 2021


#pandemic   #Covid-19   #Healthcare   #Dr. Naresh Trehan  


With an unprecedented focus on healthcare infrastructure and coordination reigned in between the government and private sector during Covid-19, Dr. Naresh Trehan, chairman, and managing director, Medanta Heart Institute, said the pandemic has compressed our plans from five years to three.

In a conversation with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now, Dr. Trehan said we always knew that proportionally our services are weak. Close collaboration between the government and private sector during Covid has shown that if we work together, we can offer better protection to our population than if we work separately.

“We always knew that proportionally our services are weak. Numerically, the numbers of beds, nurses, doctors, paramedics are low down in the curve even when compared to some of our poor neighbours. The positive side was that the government and the private sector worked very closely to fight the battle in the health space. A lot of barriers between the government and private sector came down”.

He was in a webcast as part of the Visionary Talk series held by the public policy and governance analysis platform.

Watch the video:



Dr. Trehan said that even in the case of IT, with sophisticated patient management and diagnosis, video management of disease and remote patient care is coming down the pipe now.

Invoking the adage ‘Let He Do What He Does Best’, the eminent cardiovascular and cardiothoracic surgeon said that the government and private sector should leverage upon and harness each other’s strengths and combine the forces to ring immediate relief in areas where earlier there was no coordination or joint effort between the two. During Covid, the industry came in very quickly and rose to the occasion by repurposing PPE, masks and ventilators.

“We must harness the power and resources of our country in a robust movement forward. New manta should be that combined power of hope can bring quick relief to our country at every level. The urgency with which we need to look at healthcare and its infrastructure and attentive service, i.e., train people, have more nurses, doctors, etc must all work in tandem so we can rise up with a well-integrated system.”

Asked if India might have entered the endemic stage of the pandemic, Dr. Trehan said, “This notion has caused a lot of damage at present to people. I think it is confusing to people including people like us.”

He said that a WHO specialist in Europe has cautioned that he expects nearly half a million people to die if infections continue at this rate in the next few months. “This may sound like an exaggeration, but it is a serious warning,” he said.

“Around the world, unvaccinated children are a concern for people like us, and as soon as the schools reopen children will carry it home and give the virus to the elderly in the family. It’s a double whammy of children and elders’ safety. I think it is the time for caution.”

On vaccine hesitancy Dr. Trehan said, “With no major adverse effect seen post-vaccination since it started, why would vaccine hesitancy brew … that’s the big question. Because the counterargument is that you will endanger yourself, your family, your community, and your own country.”

He said considering April -May 2021 was the peak of the second wave, the next four to six weeks will be very critical for India to see if the pattern is similar to earlier or not. “If by the end of January, we have not seen a third wave, we will need to evaluate,” he said as he cautioned that with weddings, festivals, and the coming holiday season, CAB must be followed and the public needs to be warned to mask up and keep distance.

While speaking on booster shots Dr Trehan said that antibodies of most people at six months from the second dose are diminishing to very low levels and with 20 crore surplus doses lying in India there is elbow room to start booster doses because most developed countries have already done it.

“There is data that if you have been double vaccinated and if you get exposed the chances of getting infected or getting serious are less than normal and severity would be limited. With monoclonal antibody drugs available, the cocktail cuts down the viral load immediately. Besides a lot of developments are happening in the Covid ecosystem,” he said.

Praising the government’s policy of mandatory RTPCR test for all international arrivals at airports across the country and test results being used for genome sequencing, Dr. Trehan said this is a good move and must continue to be done for detecting a possible new variant as all international travel has now been opened.

He however said that the wild card is that no one knows if a new variant coming from another country will create havoc around the world again. “If the virus mutates to a level which is defied to our current immunity if it is overcome we could have devastation. The more the number of people getting infected the more there is a chance for the virus to have the new mutation and if the new mutation is more lethal we don’t know,” he cautioned.

He praised the ‘Bhilwada Model’ in the early days of Covid-19 in India where the district administration closed the entire district to contain the virus and said through such a proactive reaction to early warning systems we can contain any new variant if it comes.

He iterated that the lull period right now with a low number of cases can be used to reinforce our early warning intelligence systems so that appropriate measures can be taken to contain if any new case comes up in real time.

Dr. Trehan also said that at Medanta, they have modeled a post-Covid recovery programme in which they do a full check-up to access the damage caused to the body and make a full programme to return to normal life. He advised a protein and vitamin-rich diet with good doses of anti-oxidants to reduce/maintain inflammation in the body and said that any inflammation of the heart must be communicated to the person.
 

Comments

 

Other News

MMRDA proposes formation of Fare Fixation Committee for Metro Lines 2A & 7

Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has proposed the constitution of a Fare Fixation Committee (FFC) for Mumbai Metro Lines 2A and 7, currently operated by Maha Mumbai Metro Operation Corporation Limited (MMMOCL). ‘Fare Fixation’ is mandated under Section 33

‘Op Sindoor not an act of revenge, but a new form of justice’

Emphasizing that Operation Sindoor was not an act of revenge, but a new form of justice, prime minister Narendra Modi on Thursday remarked that it was not just an expression of outrage but a display of India`s unwavering strength and determination. He asserted that the nation has adopted a bold approach, s

An ode to the enduring legacy of India’s temple culture

Dynasties of Devotion: The Secrets of 7 Iconic Hindu Temples By Deepa Mandlik (Translated from the Marathi by Aboli Mandlik) HarperCollins, 232 pages, Rs 399

How to improve India’s crèche system

India stands at a pivotal moment, caught between the promise of a demographic dividend and the crisis of gender inequality. While falling fertility rates, rising female education, and increasing labour force participation signal progress, policymakers continue to neglect one of the most invisible yet vital

Why trademarking ‘Operation Sindoor’ is not advisable

The question of whether the name ‘Operation Sindoor’ or even the standalone term ‘Sindoor’ can be registered as a trademark becomes complex and sensitive when viewed through the lens of its prior use by the Indian armed forces in a counter-terrorism operation. In such cases, the iss

JPC on simultaneous elections hold consultations in Maharashtra

The Joint Committee on the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024, and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, has conducted extensive consultations with key stakeholders in Maharashtra regarding the feasibility and implications of simultaneous elections.

Visionary Talk: Amitabh Gupta, Pune Police Commissioner with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now



Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter