When the virus starts attacking in wide range

“Whether we die of COVID-19 or end our life out of hunger, it does not make any differences”, an antonym of many preconceived mind who live on hand to mouth when preoccupied to learned people who are actively taking part in combating the pandemic will only lead to catastrophe. When circumstances evidences show the dreaded virus spreading at community level here in the state, people panic but hopes stir with the recovery rate of those infected person reaching over 68%. Fortunate for the state that there has been not even a single case of death and the credit goes to the health workers and their associates, no to be left aside other frontline workers.
The recent case of one hospital staff working as attendant at RIMS reverted the trust that people slowly perceived after witnessing the sacrificial spirit and the extraordinary skills of all staffs in handling or say in providing treatment to the people affected by the virus. It is natural that when a staff of a hospital gets infected with the virus and had been attending duty until checked and tested after showing symptom, people will presume the virus has started spread at community level. The more danger will be on the news about tracing the place of spread at Hospital and that too when happen at a hospital like RIMS or JNIMS. Saying so undermining the credential of the hospital just because a 56 years old lady working as attendant was tested positive at RIMS will be wrong. However, perception about the health care center as another hotspot will not be wrong as details information on how she contracted the virus has not been revealed to public.
Ethical bindings may tight the hands of those authorities in revealing the details, but then concealing the details also creates fear psychosis to the people. As rumours spread faster than the wild fire, timely revelation of how persons with no travel history and particularly those working in health sector got contracted with the virus and from where is the need of the hour.
On July 16, a division bench of the Manipur High Court had directed to let every people knows the details about how COVID-19 has been combating by various agencies of the state. The directives of the High Court however did not mention anything on whether the details of those tested positive with novel Coronavirus should be made public or not, but logics says that people will be safer disclosing the details including the history of those infected by the virus.
Now , the general OPD of RIMS along with other department that the lady attendant had visited has been closed till July 26 and almost all those whom she contacted including doctors are to be tested for the virus. It is fortunate that the Superintendent of RIMS while talking to Imphal Times narrated on why the lone attendant is tested for the virus when many other working at the hospital have not been tested. On mere suspicion about other staffs of the hospital infected by the virus if the one has been tested positive, Dr. Arun, the Superintend of RIMS said that she was tested after she showed symptoms of the COVID-19. Before testing, she has been treated by the doctor where she has been assigned as she also has diabetes. Dr. Arun further told that the department of Community Medicine RIMS has been tracking her record and there is a possibility that she contracted the virus from outside the RIMS premises. This, Sr. Arun presumed as she had a dinner together with the pradhan of Moijing who was tested with the virus some days back.
The total lockdown being announced in Thoubal district perhaps would not have been required had the authority revealed the details of those tested positive with the virus. At least the large scale transmission being taken place could have been stopped if information about who are infected or not has been systematically let known to the public.
Point wanted to bring to the notice of those concern government authority combating the COVID-19 is that , the war against COVID-19 pandemic is not over. Strict regulations as per SOPs issued by the government have not been fully enforced. Patients, staffs or any outsiders are not checked before entering the hospital (almost every). Shops are open without taking up measures to prevent spread of the virus, traffic are jammed with no persons following the SOPs.
Is it because that people started thinking that ‘to die by the virus or to end life out of hunger makes no difference”, a matter the government authority need to ponder and make clarification that dying by the virus will eliminate the entire community when hunger can be tolerated to make sure that the virus is defeated.