In a display of much-needed camaraderie between States in these times of crisis, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Monday held a videoconference with his Kerala counterpart K.K. Shailaja to understand the measures taken by her to tackle the novel coronavirus pandemic and to flatten the curve of rising cases in her State.
Kerala was one of the first States to detect a positive case in the country, after which it swung into action with its people-centric measures and effective communication modes, making it possible to flatten the curve. Maharashtra, on the other hand, is handling the largest number of patients in the country. Mumbai, especially slum areas such as Dharavi, is reporting large number of patients.
The issues discussed between the ministers ranged from ensuring physical distancing, setting up quarantine facilities, and treatment to ensure minimising deaths. Mr. Tope also discussed Kerala’s progress in plasma treatment.
He tweeted, “I interacted with Kerala’s Health Minister to understand the measures taken by that State to control the disease. It was an extremely useful discussion as we will surely try to implement few of the measures by them.”
Ms. Shailaja, tweeting from her official Twitter handle @shailajateacher said, Mr. Tope lauded Kerala’s efforts in providing best quarantine system. “The minister shared that the challenge in Maharashtra is the inability to ensure social distancing in places like Dharavi,” she tweeted.
