Manage COVID 21 - Nine Point Agenda for India

While the COVID situation today in India is under control, we still have not come out of the risky zone. I am proposing a national level plan for India to prepare for a better 'Covidproof' future.

India's population is 138 Cr (1380 Million), the Population of the USA is 33 cr (333 Million), the Population of the UK is 6.8 cr (68.2 Million), and the Population of Italy is 6 cr (60 Million). That means India's population is 4 times more than the USA, 202 times more than the UK and 230 times more than Italy.?

In terms of population, UK and Italy are like one of the Provinces/ States in India. India is One country with multiple religions, castes, languages, cultures and still maintains a lot of homogeneities.?

We, as a country, managed Wave 1 of COVID 19 well. There are a few lapses in managing Wave 2 of COVID 19, and we have been fighting to bring the situation under control. The future is very uncertain; it is not clear whether there will be 3rd wave or any other waves of COVID; hence India must be well prepared to counter any unpleasant COVID situation of the future.?

?The most critical task for India today is to have a national-level COVID 19 plan for the next 12 months to prepare the people and country for a better future. The national level plan must include at least the following nine areas.?

?National Level COVID Plan 2021

1.????The Troika of Central Level Leadership and Governance

2.????State-Level Leadership and Governance

3.????Healthcare Infrastructure at each State and Union Territories?

4.????Reduce the COVID Infection Demand?

5.????Drive Vaccination as a Movement?

6.????Establish COVID Warriors Rewards & Recognition System?

7.????Leverage Technology to prevent and control COVID

8.????Establish Economy Revival Taskforce?

9.????Nationalize Private Hospitals during the pandemic??

1. THE TROIKA OF CENTRAL LEVEL LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE

?Leadership Council: Team India 37

Establish a solid leadership council of 36 leaders (Chief Ministers of 29 States and 7 Union Territories) chaired by India's prime minister. The whole country is now in the hands of these 37 leaders, who must bring Accountability, Responsibility and Transparency (ART) to the governance. This leadership council must co-create a national plan and work with One Goal to fight for India's independence from COVID 19.

Manage COVID 19 national plan like a WAR like situation. The prime minister will represent all the central government work done by health and other ministries and missionaries. There must be special invitees (health secretary, home secretary, defence secretary and others) to join this leadership council meeting as and when required.??

?Administration Taskforce: Team India 37

Execution is the game-changer. Plan without action becomes only a dream. Hence India must establish one administrative task force, 36 Chief Secretaries of 29 States and 7 Union Territories chaired by Government of India Cabinet Secretary or Special Secretary to the Prime Minister of India.?

This administrative task force is responsible for implementing the national level COVID 19 plan in each State and Union Territory with well-orchestrated effort. This task force shares the best practices and lessons, identify risks, and proactively mitigate them. The national COVID 19 plan must be managed like a time-bound project with clear milestones and implement a?Plan-Do-Check-Act?mechanism. The National Centre for Disease Control directorate general must be the special invitee of this task force.?

Council of Infectious Diseases: Team India 37

India must establish a Council of Infectious Diseases with 36 infectious disease management experts representing each State and Union Territory headed by national level, reputed, and infectious disease expert. This council continuously propose the best practices, solutions, and plan of action to control COVID 19 effectively. Administrative Taskforce reviews and implement the recommendations offered by the Council of Infectious Diseases after the approval by the Leadership Council chaired by the Prime Minister.?

?Council of Infectious Diseases must work on the following:?

1. ?Predict the infections. There are a few complaints that the data captured by various governments is not accurate; hence, this council may factor at least 20 times more than the data reported by government agencies for their planning.??
2. Regularly interact with the international community and get inputs on COVID 19 management best practices, lessons learned, revised protocols and many more.?
3. Clinical Protocols must be revised regularly based on the effectiveness of the current medication, side effects and emerging virus variants and regularly educate the doctors, nurses, and other stakeholders on new protocols.?
4. Emphasis to be given to analyse the side effects of current clinical protocols and preventive healthcare practices and educate the people using various channels. Black, White, Yellow Fungus are examples here. Most people have been taking self-medication. A few examples are over steam inhalation (10 times per day), steroids without doctor's guidance, oxygen usage with impure water, no vaccination could be a few reasons for the current fungus issues.?

?In summary,?the 111 Leaders of India?(37+37+37) will change the fate of our nation by effectively managing COVID 19

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?2. STATE-LEVEL LEADERSHIP AND GOVERNANCE

There is no new structure required; educating, enabling, and empowering local bodies to help in managing the COVID 19 pandemic.??

• ?Ward level leadership council
• Panchayat level leadership council
• Municipality/ Taluk / Mandal or Assembly level leadership council
• District-level or Parliament level leadership?council
• State-level leadership?council

?The leadership council at each level must include elected representatives, government officers, influencers, representative government hospital doctors, representative private hospital doctors, NGOs, Public Distribution centres representatives and citizen representatives at each level.?

?State level leadership council can be chaired by the Chief Minister of that State.

?For example, in India, we must establish 664,369 village leadership councils, 718 District leadership councils, and around 4000 City leadership councils, etc.

?The leadership councils at each level work very collaboratively and strictly follow the guidelines, protocols designed by the Troika of Central level leadership and governance.?

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3. HEALTHCARE INFRASTRUCTURE AT EACH STATE AND UNION TERRITORIES?

?It is impossible to establish the required healthcare infrastructure (beds, ventilators, oxygen), doctors, nurses, front end healthcare workers and medicines when there is a pandemic. Pandemic is an exception, and no country could build the healthcare system for an exception.?

The State governments and Union Territories need to fill doctors, nurses, and other front end healthcare workers vacancies.?

Each State Government and Union Territory must plan for a healthcare budget considering the pandemic and immediately establish the required healthcare infrastructure at PHCs and government hospitals.?

?Pandemic is an exception; hence establish temporary isolation centres, PHCs, and Hospitals in each District on WAR foot. While predictions are not 100% accurate, each State and UT must develop the required resources and healthcare infrastructure by factoring in 30-40% of the COVID infection projections (need not be 100%).?

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4. REDUCE THE COVID INFECTION DEMAND?

Central and State Governments must have the highest focus to reduce the number of infected people. It is not an easy task in a country like India and requires decentralised governance and support from the citizens and community leaders.?

Leadership Councils from village level to State Level must identify influential people like movie stars, industry captains, community leaders/NGOs and make them the education and communication champions to inspire and motivate each citizen to adhere to COVID 19 guidelines.??

Let these education & communication champions adopt a few villages/ cities/towns and educate and inspire the citizens. Train the Media houses to make sure that people are educated in a very systematic manner.?

Every citizen must take the following Oath, which is the trigger point for the national-level movement in India for our Independence from COVID 19. Without support from Citizens, we cannot achieve normal life soon.?

?Everyday oath / moral agreement of each citizen during the COVID pandemic:?

1. I shall wear a (double) mask when I go out.
2. I shall wash the reusable masks every day after usage.
3. I shall wear a mask while interacting with neighbours, delivery executives (food, courier, vegetables etc.)
4. I shall always cover my mouth and nose with the mask.
5. I shall get vaccinated as a responsible citizen.
6. I shall ensure my maid, friends, relatives wearing a mask before entering the home.
7. I shall practice not to touch my mouth, nose and eyes.
8. I shall not invite friends & relatives to my home.?
9. I shall minimize or avoid joining group gatherings.?
10. I shall wash my hands or use sanitizer regularly.?
11. II shall not use COVID medication on my own without doctors' advice.?
12. I shall Convince my kids not to go out to play during the pandemic.?

?These twelve best practices must be made part of everybody's life and must be adhered to, to reduce the infections and to see a new future at the earliest.?

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5. DRIVE VACCINATION AS A MOVEMENT?

?In collaboration, central and State Governments/ UTs must devise plan, structure, and resources for massive vaccination programs. Plan for kids’ vaccination from now and import vaccines if required than waiting till last minute.?

1. ?Manage the demand and supply of Vaccines. Establish adequate production and supply chain facilities.
2. Establish a system to Vaccinate 1 Cr people/day.?
3. Based on demand, proactively mobilize, and train the healthcare workers to work at Vaccination centres.?
4. Set up Vaccination Centre in the similar lines of Election Booths in each village, town, city.?
5. Do not allow anyone other than the people who have the appointment slip (like voter slip)
6. Police must be there at Vaccination Centre and ensure that only a limited number of people are allowed at Vaccination Centre.?
7. At each Vaccination Centre, draw the standing circles with 10 feet distance, and all must stand in those circles.?
8. People MUST wear MASK, else do not allow them to get into Vaccination Centre.?
9. ?Penalize (1000 rupees fine, if anybody deviate protocols rules at Vaccination Centres?
10. Train the healthcare staff and security staff of Vaccination Centre on Dos/Don’ts?

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6. ESTABLISH COVID WARRIORS' REWARDS & RECOGNITION SYSTEM?

?Healthcare Warriors:?

Doctors, Nurses, Front end Healthcare Workers must be insured, and their families must be provided benefits like discounts for grocery items, medicines, and other essential items. Introduce Vaidya Ratna, Vaidya Sainik, Vaidya Companion type of awards at the national level like the Army. Increase the salaries of the healthcare professionals and provide financial bonuses as appropriate during the pandemic period.?

Executive Warriors:

Identify and recognize the Chief Ministers, Chief Secretaries, District Collectors, Sarpanches, other government officers and elected members in each State and at the national level. Provide promotions and salary hikes to the best government officers. Induct best performing elected members into State and federal task forces to get their support in shaping the nation in future

Introduce a special award called?The Truth Leader of the quarter, reporting the factual data on COVID 19 and putting preventive and corrective actions to reduce the COVID 19 based on the accurate data.?

?Community Warriors:?

Governments must reward the Volunteers who participated in the Clinical Trials of Vaccines, NGO leaders and committed volunteers who have been supporting COVID patients and families. These are the compassionate soldiers of the COVID 19 WAR.?

?All the rewards and recognition criteria and guidelines must be transparent and apolitical and represent the hard work being put in by various stakeholders.?

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7. LEVERAGE TECHNOLOGY TO PREVENT AND CONTROL COVID

?Command Control Centres

Establish a Command Control centre at each District and collate the actual data from Village/Town/city level to State level to Country level seamlessly and provide transparency so that the leadership councils at different levels take preventive and corrective actions.?

Data collection happens from various PHCs, hospitals, vaccination centres, citizens, patients, doctors, nurses, front end healthcare warriors. Open data capture must be encouraged without any restrictions. Analyse Social media data and find the mood of the nation. Encourage Institutions, start-ups, and specialists to predict the COVID 19 pandemic and get AI-enabled recommendations, which might complement the leadership councils to take the right decisions at the right time.?

COVID 19 dense areas can be highlighted on Google Maps and alert the Government administration of that area. This real-time COVID 19 dense areas information is available to each citizen to take precautions when they visit those areas.?

?Healthcare Robots

Manufacture or Import robots where appropriate to complement the effort of the Healthcare workers and healthcare administration. Release Chatbots for various stakeholders to get handy information and suggestions on multiple issues. Make the Chatbots as companions for the patients to continuously motivate them and think positive.?

Automatic Distribution System:?

There are many Indians who are at the bottom of the pyramid, and without going out for work, they do not get their bread and butter. Hence, the government must plan for auto credit of money monthly and provide essentials like food, reusable masks, sanitiser, and others every month to these people on a fixed date. Thus minimise the movement of people during a pandemic.?

8. ESTABLISH ECONOMY REVIVAL TASKFORCE?

Lockouts, emotional drain of people due to COVID, high personal healthcare expenditure, lack of employment, job losses have impacted the economy severely.?

Establish a national level Economy Revival Task Force with experts from various disciplines to improve India's GDP. This task force must develop innovative ideas and practices to enhance consumer spending, government spending, investments, exports, imports.?

9. NATIONALISE PRIVATE HOSPITALS DURING PANDEMIC??

While many committed management and doctors of Private hospitals exist, A few private hospitals are inhumane and have been charging lacs of rupees to cure COVID patients. They have been demanding to pay cash, which may contribute to black money.?

Hence during the pandemic, it is advisable to nationalize Private Hospitals. It does not mean that private hospitals will be punished. Transparent policies must be introduced to control Private hospitals to make them accountable and responsible for treating COVID patients. Once the pandemic is over, the private hospitals could operate on their own.?

ONE INDIA, ONE GOAL

?WE NEED A NATIONAL MOVEMENT TO FIGHT AGAINST COVID AND GET INDEPENDENCE FROM COVID

Regards

VSR

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