Harsh Vardhan should understand that the buck stops with him as far as handling the COVID19 pandemic : 25 Sept 2020

Harsh Vardhan, our Health Minister at the Centre has blamed 'irresponsible societal behaviour' for the recent spurt in COVID19 cases while speaking in the Lok Sabha. If there has been anyone who has been irresponsible, it is Vardhan's government and he, himself the nodal person to fight the pandemic in the country. This is typical of the leaders in the present government who have been quick to take credit for any achievements but the moment things start going wrong, they start playing the blame game and look for scapegoats. There is no doubt that society at large are also responsible but the larger responsibility is the government’s. Why was mass media not used more extensively to educate people to protect themselves, to convince them that government testing is safe and correct, to disperse the social stigma about those testing +ve and COVID patients and even those who come back to their community after being cured? Vardhan being a doctor himself did not see the merit of enhancing individual protection even after the deaths of doctors and health personnel from the virus after contracting it while on duty. Apart from masks and/or face shields why was not gloves, a stripped down PPE in the format of a burqa or shroud covering you completely not made mandatory when one saw the rampant spread of the virus? This increased protection would have reduced the new infected cases easily by at least 50%.  The health system infrastructure would have had lesser of a load to deal with making their job a little easier and more importantly there would been a lower death toll considering the higher than 70% recovery rate. Clarity on the multiplicity of tests and the varying costs of these and the fact that test results are correct would have given the public the much needed confidence about the testing process and the need would have been felt for reporting for tests when they had the first symptoms. Now what is happening is that people are avoiding to acknowledge that they have symptoms for fear of social and community stigma and reporting to hospitals when the symptoms have aggravated, resulting in patients being brought dead or increasing the mortality rate. As for figures, we need to realise that it is in the interest of the government to report a lower positivity rate as also the number of deaths and a higher recovery rate. But all said and done these figures are managed and in reality the positivity and mortality rate could be higher and the recovery rate lower. The figures also lose meaning in the context of what the present government puts out starting from GDP onwards have always been suspect and no one  believes these figures nationally or internationally. But overall shame for the country is that the number of infections are close to being the highest in the world inspite our having probably the largest number of health care personnel in the world, which Harsh Vardhan is trying to conveniently avoid. He is also exposing that he knows little about the people of his country in the context of what is needed to be done in the face of the pandemic. The fact that our people are not disciplined, lack patience and think more about themselves than of the community is lost on our leaders like Harsh Vardhan. What the people needed was more education about the virus, its implications on the individual and the community and clear indications about what would happen to them if they do not follow the given guidelines. Our leaders starting from the PM onwards live in their ivory towers and are far removed from reality which is why the implementation of any measure taken up by the present government is marred with blunders and glitches. Time enough therefore to have a crash course for all our political leaders, not necessarily of the present government alone, to work in the trenches and be aware of ground realities. Thus Harsh Vardhan should understand that the buck stops with him as far as handling the COVID19 pandemic and he should stop playing the blame game. Moreover, he has been given the mandate now to lead WHO for which surely he has to go with an enlarged and open-minded mindset. In the absence of this what we are seeing is the lathi ghoomane ka or the pompous and aggressive approach signifying that we know what's best for you and follow our strictures without question. Reverting back to the COVID19 scene, whether it is Donald Trump or his tabalchi Modi, both have not yet directly accused China of unleashing this virus at their countries or across the world to show its power with an agenda for world hegemony since with both the US & India struggling to contain the virus China has been sitting pretty having won over the war against the virus. But mark my words it will come well before the US elections in November if his recent pre-recorded speech at the UN General Assembly is any indicator when Trump will directly accuse China of unleashing the virus on the world and for voters to elect him as a strong and aggressive President to take on China. Modi will then follow Trump with an encore to boot. That then will be the ultimate blame game.