Just like the rest of India, Odisha is in the midst of the toughest part of its battle with the deadly coronavirus so far. The state’s daily new case count has been breaching the five-figure mark for the past few days and it reported a record 21 Covid casualties yesterday. Yet, despite being under a strict two-week lockdown, Odisha is shining as a beacon of hope, positivity and good governance for the rest of the country.
The reasons are many.
At a time when many Indian hospitals are facing an acute shortage of medical grade oxygen, which makes the difference between life and death particularly for patients with Covid-19 or Covid-induced ailments, Odisha has supplied more than 7,723 metric tonnes (MT) of oxygen to as many as 10 states across the nation, including some of the worst affected ones such as Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, over the past 16-17 days.
With a dedicated green corridor immediately set up by the Naveen Patnaik government after news about a national oxygen shortage broke last month, Odisha Police has been constantly monitoring the loading and transportation of the life-saving gas in the state and has escorted 421 oxygen tankers out of the four industrial districts of Rourkela, Anugul, Dhenkanal and Jajpur so far.
A couple of days ago, in an admirable humanitarian gesture towards the people of Mumbai – the capital of the state worst hit by Covid-19 – Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik ordered a complete waiver of the Rs 2 crore-plus rent that the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation owed his government for using Odisha Bhawan as a quarantine centre for doctors and health workers since April last year.
One of the brightest examples of his prompt and smart decision-making during crisis time was seen in his government’s recent decision to rope in private hospitals to conduct vaccination of people in the 18-44 age group. This move will maximise the vaccination base and enable authorities to nearly double the number of Covid-19 vaccine doses being administered to people in Odisha every day.
Another brilliant instance of good and timely governance by the Naveen Patnaik administration was its decision yesterday to temporarily bring all doctors from various cadres (both OHMS and OMES), AYUSH, PG doctors, Post-PG doctors, interns and medical students, as well as nurses and paramedics under the state pool so they may be effectively deployed to various institutions on the basis of the urgency, type and volume of resources required.
The efficient management of Covid-19 pandemic in Odisha is also reflected in its impressively low Covid vaccine waste rate of minus 2.7%. (The negative percentage is technically possible up to minus 10% because 11 doses are provided in a 10-dose vial.) Thanks to this negative wastage, the state has managed to vaccinate an additional 1,61,351 people – a feat that is all the more laudable in view of the vaccine shortage that India is facing at present.
While taking care of the present, the five-time Chief Minister is also taking steps to make Odisha better prepared in the future against calamities such as the Covid-19 pandemic. This is evidenced in the ongoing construction of a cutting-edge vaccine production unit in Andharua, Bhubaneswar, which is expected to begin production of Bharat Biotech’s vaccine Covaxin by June next year.
If leaders from the rest of the country could tackle Covid-19 with the sense of compassion, urgency and foresight that our Chief Minister has shown, India will be better off sooner than later.
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