 Hello and welcome to Dispatches from India Show by People's Dispatch. The main story across India this week continues to be the horrific COVID-19 wave which has had an impact on almost every region of the country. On Friday, India reported over 400,000 cases of COVID-19 in a span of 24 hours, the first country to do so. The country also reported over 3,500 deaths. Behind these numbers lie untold horrors, desperate struggles for oxygen, the lack of ICU beds and ventilators, overflowing crematoriums. Amid a systemic collapse, many have been left to fend for themselves to seek help from their fellow citizens. Stories in the media abound of people trying very hard to ensure care for their loved ones, often in vain. One of the most heart-rending aspects has been the struggle for oxygen. Despite repeated statements by those in power that there is no shortage of oxygen, social media and all communication channels are full of desperate pleas for that over the past two weeks. Despite having a year to prepare, the central and state governments were clearly not ready to meet this demand. And this has been one of the key factors in the collapse of the health system in various parts of the country. News Clicks Praveep Rakhaisa addresses key issues in oxygen supply in India. You know, there are two aspects to this issue. One is that why has the demand gone up so rapidly? And that I think is the key question. That this has caught the government completely unaware. They should have prepared for it. They should have had the ability to project what kind of requirements of oxygen they might get. They had done some projection that they knew that they could manage 100,000 patients at a given point of time, numbers of new cases coming up, that kind of surge that we saw last year, they could manage. But beyond that, they would have a problem. But the question is that did we prepare for this eventuality, that the numbers could go up from 100,000, 200, 300,000. Right now we are really looking like we are going to reach 400,000 at the speed at which we are going and probably even 500,000. And if that is so, what would happen to both the ability of the system, the hospitals to handle the patients and the ability for us to be able to supply them oxygen, which is the crucial input that you do require. And that's not something you can ramp up very quickly, but get medicines if you want, you know, plain loads of them can be flown from here and there. That's possible. The possibility exists, but not when it comes to oxygen. That's the key mistake that we seem to have made. The second part of it, if we look at the other part, the issue that is there, that there is a complete lackadaisical attitude towards even doing the minimum that was talked about earlier. It took them 10 months to order what are called PSA oxygen plants, which are smaller oxygen plants. They can be put very close to hospitals within the hospitals for that matter. And therefore the provide like you have for the electrical system, a backup supply, you get a backup supply, it's not a solution for hospitals, but you do get a backup supply that could be there. But the number of plants ordered were not very large. The amount that was being spent on this was again not very large. We're talking something like 30 crores or so. And if you take the 162 plants that the government ordered, it took them 10 months to order. And even after that, if we, it's taken five more months for them to install only 30 odd plants. And the tragedy is that at the current moment that we are seeing, it only meets about max 2.5% of the requirement, even if all the plants have been functional. So let's face it, this is not the, this is not a solution, but even that, a palliative arrangement, particularly for far flung areas where oxygen supply reaching liquid oxygen is difficult, this would have been a some kind of a stop gap arrangement. It wasn't the solution for cities like Delhi, Mumbai or Pune or any of the big cities because there the oxygen requirement is in hundreds of tons. So therefore to think that a small PSA plant or a set of PSA plants could do the job was certainly not going to happen. Meanwhile, the vaccination process continues, those at still a very slow rate. In fact, the daily vaccination rates have declined in the second fortnight of April as compared to the first half. At the same time, questions remain about supply, especially considering that in May, vaccinations will also begin for the 18 to 45 age group. This will see a huge rise in demand. Journalist Anandya Chakravarty talks about what India needs to do as the vaccination process continues. So I mentioned the seasonal flu, we all know that it comes sometimes in October November and then lasts through the winter months and then peaks around February March. There's no reason to right now believe that that is not going to be the case with COVID-19. We don't know whether there's a seasonality here, but the waves tend to show that there might be one. At least one should prepare for it, even if it doesn't happen. If it does happen, if it is something that comes seasonally, we have to remember that we'll not be able to vaccinate our people by October November when the next season, next wave could start. So for that we need to prepare right now because why can't we vaccinate? Because as I said in my last episode, we have about 94 crore adults in this country and each of them will need two doses and if we have to produce 188 crore doses of COVID vaccines, that can't be done before January, February or even March, April next year. So we have almost a year to go before we achieve 100% adult vaccination of COVID in India. And what we need to prepare for is just two or three things. We need to be ready with that. Number one is testing. We need to scale up testing dramatically because we know 80% of COVID cases are asymptomatic and it is these asymptomatic people who spread it. Why? Because they don't know. It's not as if it's their fault. And what happens is that they might wear masks outside, but when they come home, they take off the mask. Right? They have no symptoms. They don't feel unwell. They have no reason to test. So what do they do? They share meals. They sit in the same room. They chat. They hug their children. They are together with their old parents and they pass on the COVID virus, the coronavirus even though they themselves are asymptomatic. If they're tested regularly, those who are going out of the home, if they're tested regularly, tie up with companies, tie up with workplaces, tie up with various places, NGOs. If they can be given a test once a week, even once a week, then we'll be able to control many asymptomatic cases as in monitor those asymptomatic cases. And what will that do? As soon as you have an asymptomatic case, you need step two, which is isolation centers, decent isolation centers with decent beds, maybe good food. Important thing is sanitation, right? Good sanitation, enough toilets for people to use, nutritious food, where they can go, where they can go and sit. They're already infected, remember? So it's not as if they're going to get more infected by being around other COVID patients. So they stay there. If they get worse, then you essentially move them to hospitals or treat them. In some of these places, you can even set up broadband facilities, give them systems by which they can work from isolation center, right? Now instead of working from home. So the most important thing that you do then is that before they start passing on the COVID virus to others, the coronavirus to others in the family, they've been isolated. They've been moved out of that third most important thing is increase oxygen supply. Make sure that you can easily certify industrial grade oxygen, which by the way, is pretty good quality oxygen into oxygen that can be used for medical oxygen and then transported because transporting is a big cost. Transporting oxygen. Put up oxygen plants in hospitals. Create oxygen bed hospitals. And what do I mean by that? I'm not using a technical term. It's just a standard. I mean, you understand what I'm saying, right? Get, take over a stadium. Put a thousand beds there. Put partitions. Put oxygen supply tanks. Put connections so that you can give at least low flow oxygen to these people. Set up a nice U nearby. One of the reasons why people are dying right now is because they're not getting oxygen. So as Faro Kodwadia, one of India's, Mumbai's most respected doctors have said that oxygen needs to be treated as a drug in this case. So oxygen is a drug. If oxygen levels have dropped significantly and oxygen has to be given, that is the first line. The second line is once a person is on oxygen in some cases, they need steroids if they have a lot of inflammation in the body. Then the third drug needed is some blood thinner to ensure there are no blood clotting inside the body. And these are just the three key drugs that doctors across the world say work, right? Nothing else actually has been proven to work. Many have been, I mean, WHO has said that some of them that are being recommended by doctors don't work. Remdesivit does virtually nothing except reduce fever by five, six days. It has no impact on mortality, but you'll see people running from pillar to post for Remdesivit, convalescent plasma treatment, controversial. No one has been able to prove that it works. And there's only some minor recommendation here and there by doctors. But again, we see appeals on social media for plasma. The key things are oxygen, some steroids and blood thinners and of course, paracetamol to bring fevers down. That is what we need. We need temporary oxygen beds, oxygen hospitals to be created, isolation centers to be created. And let me tell you, just this year, China created these things in five to 10 days. If they can do that in five to 10 days, yes, you'd say it's an authoritarian country. If an order comes, people will be too scared to not do it and they do it. Okay, we are a democracy, let's say. And therefore it'll take three, four times that amount of time, but we still have time. Then one, two months to build things right now, set them up right now for the future. And finally, we continue with our reporting on the impact of the pandemic on various sections to the people. Today, we go to the state of Tamil Nadu where the transgender community feels betrayed by the government's approach. The community is relatively well organized in the state as opposed to many other regions in India and is also covered by welfare measures. But they have not been receiving the benefits they should be getting. Here's a ground report. Pusklik met with activists of the Tamil Nadu-Arvanegal Association, a transgender union in the state. They talk about the state assembly elections, as well as how the pandemic-induced lockdown has impacted them. They also talk about the state government's policies towards the transgenders. I am an MP-Election candidate, I started out of Tamil Nadu as an MP-Election candidate. I took four-digit votes. But the thing is, now, we have a lot of work to do. Secondly, we have a lot of expenses. NASA has given us the judgment. Secondly, we have given a lot of government supreme court in the case of the third semester. We have not implemented any of the government we have now. If we go to the social welfare board and ask them, do we not have to pass the NGO in the government? We have not done that, we have not done that. They have been telling us about some of the reasons. So, when we go to work, when we go to study, when we go to everything, we have a struggle there. We have to struggle in the middle of every struggle, we have to do everything. So, even now, for the transgenders, if everyone says ADMK, ADMK in the government, then we do not talk about anything. But only for the female and male, everyone says, we do this, we do that. But, this politician does not talk about transgenders. So, many of these transgenders do not have a house, they do not have a job, they have education. So, even after studying education, many of them do not have a job. So, we all have to give them a job. I think it would be better if we give them a lot of salary like this. The transgenders and the people have considered it. They took it in 2009, I knew it. I have not taken it since then. In 2020, the corona period has come. So, they have not taken it, the government of Tamil Nadu. So, they do not know how many Tamil Nadu, Indian and transgenders are there. They do not know what to give them, what to do, what to do. They are Indian government. So, up till Chennai, there are only 1000-800 transgenders there. They are considering it. But, up till Chennai, there are 10,000 transgenders there. There are 4000 people who want to get an ID card. So, there are 1000 people there. Secondly, they are giving an OAT ID. OAT ID is for some transgenders and females. For some transgenders, they would have given a photo of the ladies photo. But, they would have given a male photo. The other gender photo is very less. So, there are a lot of murder cases. The government did not help us during the corona period. Because, we have received 1000 rupees per month. They would have given 1000 rupees in the past 3 months. Secondly, they have given an ID card. It is an ID card that no one can eat. The ID card may not have been given. They have given 10 kinds of ID cards. We have not received anything else. We have not received any ID cards or anything else. But, they have helped us a lot. Public people only have helped us more. They have given us a lot of clothes. They have given us a lot of clothes. They have given us a lot of ID cards. They have given us a lot of things. The ID card that they have given us is very good. But, the government did not allow us to eat the ID card. But, the government has not done anything for us in the corona period. They have told us that they have done a lot of things for transgenders. But, it is not true. The news is very clear. They are playing a game with transgenders. They are watching us with transgenders. They do not know what to do for transgenders. But, they have told us a lot of things. They have not done anything for the government. They have just told us that they have given us a job. When they give us a house... ...they say that it should last for about 20 to 25 years. They said that they would give a house only as you should. The government has already managed to do this problem as per the skin care order. So, it should last that for 20 to 25 years. We can't just stay here and cry for 20 years. In the second part we are told to wait for the bride, children and their families to come closer. But, in the second part, they stop watching us... We have to do that to the government. Secondly, they are giving a safe house. They are giving a house in a rowdy place. When we go out of the house alone, there is a lot of robbery and murder going on. They are giving a house in a safe place. That should be very important. If we are given a safe place, it will be good. There is nothing to do with all the robbers. They are giving a safe house to the robbers. Recently, they have accepted robbers in Kerala. Before that, they accepted robbers in Tamil Nadu. Because of the DMK politics, Kalanchar and others were named as robbers. They were very helpful to us. After that, they named us as robbers. We didn't do anything. But now, the latest Kerala government has accepted robbers. When they accepted robbers, they are giving a lot of salary. They are giving scholarships for their studies. They are giving fees for books and government. They are giving 2 lakhs for the surgery. All of them are given by the government. In the lockdown, they gave a kit bag like Kerala government. They gave a kit bag, rice, oil, etc. They gave the provisions for the people. They gave a kit bag. It was good to be in the city. But it was not like this. They gave a kit bag, oil bag, rice bag, etc. They gave a kit bag, oil bag, rice bag, etc. It was like this. Tamil Nadu is treating the robbers very hopelessly. We have to do more and do more. We are fighting for each other. We are fighting for each other. But the government didn't do the robbers properly. We don't get the salary of any robbers. We don't have to come to Thirunangu for the robbers. Thirunangu does not have to come. If the robbers came from the government, they would get the salary we gave them. But we don't get this salary. What kind of salary we will get? How many robbers are there without a leave? They don't have a job opportunities. We will at least get the salary we had. Thirunangu can be good for it. We go to the welfare resident board and ask them what to do, what to do with the doctors. What do you do? The government has given you an officer and a salary. What do you do? What do you do? If you want to say something, you go and talk to the mayor. If you talk to the mayor, he doesn't answer. So, we are fighting with each other. Kerala government is doing very nice. Kerala government is doing very well. For the transgenders. During the lockdown period, everyone is going to the sexual part. Everyone is going to take a picture. Only 50% of the people are going to the sexual part. The rest of the people are studying. They are doing something new in some place. They are doing self-employment. They are not doing self-employment. They are going to the temple. Many people are going to work at home. There are such things. But during the lockdown period, everything was affected by the temple. Not only for the transgenders. Everyone was affected. The sexual workers were affected by that too. The debtors were affected by that too. But what the government should have done is, they should not go to such festivals. They should not go to festivals. They should not get money again. They should not get money again. So, the government should have a good help for the transgenders. They should have given 1000 rupees. They gave 1000 rupees for the month. They gave 1000 rupees for the three months. It is not enough. But the government should have done a lot. They did not do it. But the transgenders did not do anything. They should have given 1000 rupees for the fight. They would not have given even that. They would not have passed the G.O. This is what the government should have taken. They should have told the government to us. That's all we have time for. We will be back next week with more news from India. 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