CII president calls for stringent lockdown

The requirement for hospital beds, oxygen and medicines will continue to escalate at the current pace of the pandemic. says industry body.

May 02, 2021 11:54 pm | Updated May 03, 2021 11:30 am IST - NEW DELHI

Roadside vendors wear face masks as a precaution against coronavirus sell vegetables and fruits, in Hyderabad on May 2, 2021.

Roadside vendors wear face masks as a precaution against coronavirus sell vegetables and fruits, in Hyderabad on May 2, 2021.

Indian industry has urged the government to deploy the armed forces and Central security forces to manage the logistics, infrastructure and personnel necessary to address the rising wave of COVID-19 cases in the country, warning that the requirement for hospital beds, oxygen and medicines will continue to escalate at the current pace of the pandemic.

“At this critical juncture when toll of lives is rising, the Confederation of Indian Industry [CII] urges the strongest national steps, including curtailing economic activity, to reduce suffering,” CII president Uday Kotak said, in what are the first remarks by an industry lobby group in favour of a stringent lockdown.

Calling for the highest-level response measures to the current crisis, Mr. Kotak said, “Given the current pandemic situation, safeguarding lives is of utmost priority and nationwide maximal response measure at the highest level is called for to cut the transmission links. The healthcare infrastructure and supply build-up are being undertaken on emergency basis by the governments at the Centre and States, but will take time.”

‘Already overstretched’

Stressing that India’s medical personnel are already overstretched and will be under further pressure without remedial measures, the CII chief said it might not be possible to manage escalating caseload with the present medical talent availability. “We must heed expert advice on this subject – from India and abroad. Highest response measures are needed to break the chain of contagion and also use the time to rapidly build up capacity,” he pointed out.

“Our maxim should be ‘no one is safe, unless everyone is safe’,” Mr. Kotak underlined, adding that temporary medical facilities can be created with the help of the armed forces and paramilitary forces using existing infrastructure such as school/college premises, sheds, parks with tents, etc. as COVID-19 care facilities.

“Medical equipment for these facilities can be sourced from across the country through Indian Air Force flights or Army trucks… Create a Central asset mapping control team for monitoring supply of various essential critical care items as well as predicting possible occurrences of shortages and pre-emptively enhancing States’ capacities. Shortages may be made known to industry for helping reach resources,” he added.

Vaccination policy

Calling for a rethink on India’s vaccination policy, the CII said vaccination supplies must be distributed to States according to well-defined criteria. As per experts, population size, exposure and vulnerability can be mapped to supply specific required quantities to the States, it said, even as it called for the urgent need to scale up testing in urban as well as rural India.

“The requirements for testing kits can be met through imports or ramping up domestic manufacturing, including Rapid Antigen Self Testing Kits for use at home. Vacant educational institution premises or other unused premises can be used for community testing facilities at scale,” Mr. Kotak said.

Apart from strengthening security at hospitals for medical personnel, the CII urged the government to tap manpower sources such as retired medical personnel, doctors and nurses, as well as nursing and medical students who are awaiting exams. “Medical specialists, numbering about 25,000, PG seat aspiring doctors of 1.3 lakh and specialists not recognised by the Medical Council can be included with incentives for doing COVID ICU work for a year,” Mr. Kotak pleaded. “NRIs working abroad as doctors and nurses can be encouraged to come back for a national cause for a brief period,” he concluded.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.