Efficient supervision, stringent measures, timely decisions and the readiness of the public to work together for one another – this is Kerala, a tiny segment of land in the south western part of India which is now nationally and internationally praised for its relative success in containing the spread of the global pandemic, Covid-19 , through valiant efforts.Kerala was the first state in the country to report a corona virus infection in late January.On Saturday, the state government reported a total of 373 informed cases in which 228 under treatment, 123 cured and only 2 deaths .
The governmental measures, including extensive testing and efforts to trace people who came in contact with Corona virus infected persons, have helped in curbing a community outbreak. A great round of applause must be given to the left government of Kerala for all those proactive efforts in flattening the curve. Plans to address and protect all the sections of people like; maintaining supply Chains of essential goods, prohibition of religious congregations and the coordination mechanism to support other states truly deserve appreciation.
Preparation of route maps to trace the places where the infected people have visited before being identified as positive provided to be highly successful, when such maps got widely circulated on social media.Ensuring the protection of migrant workers by naming them as guest workers, providing Mid day meals at home for 3.7 lakh children, production of 10 lakh bottle of sanitizers within 10 days and the launch of Gok app for daily updates must be taken into valuable consideration.
Now, let’s take a moment to re-examine the fact that whether the efficiency of Kerala in fighting covid-19 is just because of the Communist government in Kerala or is it a collective struggle of all governments in the state?
Let me point out some things:1. Recently Frontline magazine reported that from the late 1990s, with decentralization becoming a reality in Kerala, as 25 to 35 percentage of the plan funds become available for local bodies and planning and resource mobilization began at the local level, facilities in many grassroot level hospitals in the state has improved drastically.Adding further to it the same magazine in 2017 also reported that;In the past decade Kerala also invested heavily to reorient its chain of nearly 900 rural Primary Health centres, to train grass root level health workers to monitor the health status of rural households, to provide quality treatment services including speciality care facilities at the Taluk district and general hospitals in addition to the medical college hospitals, and to create a patient friendly environment in all government hospitals.
2. Kerala is the most literate state in India, the people of Kerala having unique quality of all time readiness to work together for one another – An educated section of the country which always analyses and responds reasonably to circumstances. Example being Kerala, successfully fighting Nipah virus and the floods.
3. Kerala has witnessed, the Congress lead opposition coalition joining hands with the left Democratic Front at the time of crisis to work together more effectively and fruitfully. Here also the picture is same. We have seen that the chief minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan and the opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala at a video conference together with ward level members of all local bodies in the state urging them to forget political indifferences and to work together energetically and proactively against the pandemic.
Of all by the fact, that even from the beginning, the state by all the ruling governments from time to time has invested in its education and health very effectively. One can conclude that fighting a pandemic or a natural disaster is not just the struggle of a ruling party alone; it is the result of the entire land in creating a better system in all these years. Of course, the government does deserve heartfelt appreciation for this struggle but mention is to be given to all the workers, officials, the system and the people.
Well done Finu…You are right in telling that no government can fight alone this pandemic as the government needs cooperation from all sides. Moreover the people are literate and and conscientized through social media the impact of this pandemic disease. Of course its the success needs to be attributed to the governments over the periods to make Kerala literate, healthy and a God’s own country through their various initiatives. However, we should not forget our weakness that the state has produced many migrants as it severely lack employment opportunities. Its policies over the years lack a long run approach, a vision for its people in terms of creation of jobs. Hence our agriculture and industry suffer. We are a dependent and not self sufficient in food production which is the most basic need of man. We eat food articles imported from other states which has its own health consequences. Our efforts to reduce the demand and supply gap for food is not praiseworthy. Now what people need is not the consumer gadgets but food to eat. The government spend money on buying these food articles which again deteriorate the financial resources of the state.. Thus these are some basic issues which any government which comes to power needs to address with a long-term vision for the betterment of its citizens. Hope there will some serious thinking about these matters too…