From Covid to Cowin: A battle plan to win over the second wave of pandemic in India

Here there is a battle amongst unequals. Our opponents is a tiny mutant who can't be seen or felt, can be fought with soaps , sanitizers, masks & social distancing, yet a formidable force creating havoc. The worst part is it's back like a Trojan horse, when we were almost certain over a win. But like Terminator 2, this second version is more lethal. It has more infection ability and targeting relatively younger generation (probably due to successful vaccination for 45 years+)

Since February,21 the Covid 2nd wave has gathered momentum and significantly impacted life in India since march. Those were the times (February especially), systematically stopping the public facilities could have resulted a better situation, but that lack of clarity, inherent volatility & uncertainty of the situation mode it difficult. Also the impact on livelihood as well as GDP called for unpopular options created a decision dilemma at center and state level. All these things are costing us dearly now. In a country like India with the population and pressure for infrastructure is always a difficult proposition. However, the battle is not yet lost-and we can not afford to loose it as well. With a country full of talent, if we can focus at the priorities now and leverage the existing capabilities, a lot can be done right now.

What's Important Now:

1. Check availability of hospital beds with ventilator and ramp up the numbers as per current projections with timeline. There are number of Apps, websites already available to track this thanks to many of who has contributed in these developments. An integrator is required here, preferably government initiated to get us started quickly with more reliable data.

2. Check availability of Oxygen and cylinders required for a smooth return logistics operation, ramping up capacity of Oxygen Plants. A Again many domestic IT effort is already available which can be either leveraged or benchmarked to track production & logistics of Oxygen.

3. Check availability of Covid 19 medicine including Remdesivir & Favipiravir, ramping up production capacity. We have many pharma aggregator apps available like 1mg, Netmeds, Pharmeasy, etc. The distribution can be monitored through such online apps/portals exclusively through hospitals or controlled retail mechanisms.

4. Vaccination at this point of time is the most important and long term solution for Covid 19. Currently there's a shortage, but having further plans and visibility can give a lot of relief to all. A central Order management, state level distribution and district level cold storage mechanism can really build a lot of traction. Aggressive import options can also be worked out.

5. Create transparent IT infra for distribution of the same and to curb the modes of malpractice, Arogyasetu/Co-win Apps can act as a front end other Apps, 3rd party apps can be integrated with an IT core to create mega database. Equally important is create physical infrastructure through mobile phones helpline numbers and contact centers. Post offices, Panchayats, large housing Co-op Societies and hospitals can also be leveraged to reach masses.

Finally a seamless collaboration of central and state level machinery is crucial for effective implementation of various plans and strategies. While the central government can device all the policies, strategies & common & standard IT/technology infrastructure, states can focus on implementation . Industry can also participate by creating business models around supply demand situation in the area of healthcare, oxygen, medicines & vaccination. Setting up communication mechanism across central, state, officials, industry and stakeholders in a defined cadence and public disclosers on realistic charter of services and lead time are also key. This is a time, when this kind of effort will not only help us to get over this pandemic in 3 to 4 months but also enrich us as a nation we would like to be proud for in the years to come. All the points are quite commonsensical and may be open secrets now, nevertheless, the implementation of the same can not be taken for granted. Looking forward to your opinion on the same.