B’luru struggles to arrest Covid spike
OVERWHELMED Health experts say infections are rising because of poor coordination between officials and hasty unlocking of the city
BENGALURU: On Friday, July 3, a resident of Bengaluru’s Hanumanthanagar neighbourhood, who had been running a fever and had breathing difficulties, collapsed in the middle of the road and died. His family had tried to get him admitted in seven different hospitals, all of which refused to take him in.
After he died, his body lay on the road for the four hours it took an ambulance to finally reach. Incidents such as these are giving rise to a perception that after its initial success in curbing Covid-19, the Karnataka government has lost the plot in the battle against the pandemic, especially in Bengaluru.
On Sunday, when medical education minister Dr K Sudhakar visited the Jayanagar General Hospital, patients narrated a litany of woes -- from the non-availability of an ambulance to arrive at the hospital to lack of hygiene, and from the poor quality of food to the time taken for Covid testing reports to be provided.
Sudhakar promised that 400 more ambulances (two per ward for the 200 wards in Bangalore) would be provided. The minister warned of criminal cases against hospitals that do not provide treatment or turn away patients.
A day earlier, Jayanagar MLA Sowmya Reddy, daughter of Congress politician Ramalinga Reddy, tweeted her anger at the mismanagement of the situation.
“On the phone calling hospital after hospital,”she wrote as she tried to help with a patient’s hospital admission. “They don’t respond/switched off, if they do they say no beds with oxygen/ ICU..So angry..pathetic state of our healthcare.” She was a legislator and this was her experience, she pointed out. “Imagine plight of people who don’t have connections or strings to pull.”
The government’s response has been a mixture of denial and passing the buck. Since the first Covid-19 case in Karnataka was detected on March 8, the government has been touting its “success” in containing the spread of the disease as well as the low mortality rate in the state compared to other states .
On June 6, Bengaluru accounted for 162 of the 3,184 active cases in Karnataka. It had a mere 5% of the cases in the state.
On Sunday, the city’s tally of active cases was 8,167, accounting for over 60% of cases under treatment in the state.
How did things spin out of control so quickly? Opposition alleges incompetence and lack of coordination between ministries. The health and welfare minister is B Sriramulu and medical education minister is K Sudhakar. After the two sparred, the chief minister was forced to nominate the primary and secondary education minister, Suresh Kumar, to brief the media and give daily updates on the statewide Covid-19 situation.
Sriramulu and Sudhakar themselves were accused of violating quarantine norms.
After announcing relief packages, chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa, who saw that the treasury was empty, decided to go full throttle in opening up Bengaluru by lifting lockdown regulations . A medical advisor to the Covid-19 taskforce who did not want to be identified said: “The pace at which the opening up of the city took place was probably too fast.”
Former Bellary MP and Congress spokesperson V S Ugrappa said a lack of coordination and one-upmanship between various ministers was one of the key reasons for things spinning out of control. “What was the government doing for the last three months? Why was infrastructure not put in place? Why are people dying waiting for ambulances and why are patients being turned away?”
A senior official in the health and family welfare department who did not want to be identified said: “Given the circumstances we have done a good job. There might have been some lacunae but remember this is a situation without a precedent. Also, numbers went up as people also did not follow social distancing norms plus the testing has gone up, which all have led to the current situation. Things are under control.”
A worried CM on Monday appealed to the people not to leave Bengaluru. “There is no need to panic...We have added 10,000 more beds as well as 450 more ambulances and if required will add more. Unfortunately, we have to coexist with this situation as there is no solution for now. Your lives are important and the government is taking all measures to protect you.”