The Telangana government is facing a piquant situation after it bungled the handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Initially, it brushed off the outbreak as an issue of no consequence, arguing the virus would not last long as summer was around the corner.
In fact, Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao had claimed that coronavirus was not a life-threatening organism and that it could be dealt with by popping a few paracetamol pills. His casual approach despite other countries reeling under the impact of the virus, appears to have led Telangana to a situation where the government is finding it difficult to handle, as the daily count of positive cases is now hovering just under 2,000 per day.
KCR now has the short end of the stick and is under fire from several quarters, including the Telangana High Court, for remaining passive to the outbreak. Hyderabad is under its vice-like grip with more than 80% of the cases from Telangana being reported from the state’s capital. The high court has been regularly advising the government to be proactive.
It shot off a volley of questions recently, asking why the government was not following the guidelines issued periodically by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). KCR and his son K T Rama Rao, who is minister for Information Technology and Municipal Administration, are facing the heat. After the lockdown was imposed in March, Telangana appeared to be taking serious steps to combat the virus. The government promised to enhance hospital beds and ensure robust tracking, tracing and treating systems. Also, the mortality rate was relatively low at that point in time.
However, just about a fortnight after Unlock 1.0 was announced in the first week of June, the situation began spinning out of control. Systemic deficiencies began showing up and the government’s image took a beating as disturbing videos of shoddy handling of patients in government hospitals for Covid-19 treatment began surfacing. The absence of a platform to disseminate information about bed availability, too, took its toll on the overall management.
After private hospitals were allowed to treat Coronavirus patients, the situation further slipped out of control. The state still does not have a proper portal or a digital dashboard with real-time updates on the availability of beds at designated Covid hospitals. The main criticism against the government is that it is reluctant to scale up its testing. Take neighbouring Andhra Pradesh. It has the highest count of rapid tests in the country — close to a million as of now.
In contrast, the total number of tests in Telangana so far is a little above one lakh. In fact, information on the extent of testing in the state was revealed only in June. At the present testing rate of about 5,000-odd a day, the state is among the lowest in India. Telangana assured the court on testing 50,000 samples in 10 days, but managed to test only 30,877 of them. The court faulted the state government for its failure to produce evidence that it has a containment policy.
Besides, the government has stopped publishing a list of containment clusters, both citywise and state-wise — despite directions from the court — in the media. It is rather obvious that critical information, which should be disseminated among the people is being withheld, the court had observed.
“Needless to say, while fighting a battle against a pandemic, ignorance is not bliss. In fact, ignorance is an invitation to a calamity,” the bench added, but the stinging remarks had little effect on the state, if the daily test count at present is anything to go by. Dealing with Covid-19 is not easy.
Even countries with the most robust healthcare systems are struggling. No one knows when the virus will subside but the lack of proactive steps to deal with it is worrying. It is high time KCR cranked up the machinery and got a realistic sense of how wide the bug has spread and took appropriate remedial action.
CH V M KRISHNA RAO
Resident Editor, TNIE, Telangana
krishnarao@newindianexpress.com