They can’t breathe

Tuesday 27th April, 2021

Several issues have troubled this country during the last several months, and eclipsed the most important one—the pandemic. The focus of the public has recently shifted from contaminated cooking oil to overpriced cooking gas. There has been a furore over the state-owned gas company duping and fleecing the public. This issue has to be sorted out fast, but cooking gas will be the least of Sri Lanka’s problems if the pandemic situation worsens, as feared. The country’s focus must now be on how to ensure a steady supply of oxygen to hospitals in view of the upsurge in the Covid-19 cases, and the increasing demand for the life-saving gas.

Fear is being expressed in health circles that the pandemic situation will spin out of control sooner than expected, and the next wave of infections will overwhelm the health sector, given the high transmissibility of the new variant of coronavirus, which is now killing the young and the old alike unlike in the past when the youth were relatively safe. Worryingly, neither the government nor the public seems to take the situation seriously. People do not follow the heath regulations properly, and the government baulks at adopting stringent measures to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Unless drastic action is taken to curb the spread of the pandemic, thousands of people will be gasping for oxygen, as is the case in India, which is experiencing a severe shortage of the life-saving gas; a cylinder of oxygen usually priced at INR 6,000 sells at INR 50,000 on the black market, according to media reports. Hospitals are overflowing with Covid-19 victims in New Delhi and several other big cities as well as their suburbs, and many patients have had to receive treatment in ambulances or private vehicles parked within hospital premises, or at their homes, but they are without enough stocks of oxygen.

Several countries have offered assistance to India. That is the way the world should take on the virus. A collective global effort is called for. As the World Health Organisation has rightly said, no country will be safe until every country is safe. India is known for its resilience, and one hopes that it will be able to overcome the present difficulties and beat back the virus decisively before long.

Ironically, shortages of oxygen for Covid-19 patients struggling to breathe are reported from several countries while NASA is trying to isolate and store oxygen on Mars ‘to help power rockets that could lift astronauts off the planet’s surface’. Humans who have embarked on such ambitious space missions cannot ensure that the sick receive enough oxygen on their own planet!

What India is battling to cope with can happen to any other country, especially Sri Lanka, where pandemic preparedness is far from satisfactory, and politics has taken precedence over science and expert advice. The government is still not doing what needs to be done as it lacks political moxie; it is not taking views of medical experts on board. It ought to listen to Minister Dr. Sudarshani Fernandopullle, an experienced medical professional capable of understanding the gravity of the situation and what needs to be done. Lockdowns may not be possible for economic reasons, but at least some travel restrictions have to be enforced strictly in all areas affected by a surge of infections. This is something long overdue; had such action been taken before and after the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, the situation could have been kept under control. The present wave of Covid-19 can be attributed to the avurudu shopping sprees, travel and festivals.

The Government Medical Officers’ Association has, in response to a query posed by this newspaper, stressed the need for ensuring that the country maintains enough oxygen stocks to meet any eventuality. The views of the good doctors, leading the battle against the elusive enemy, from the front, must be heeded.

We can only hope that the health authorities and the government politicians have taken notice of the shocking situation in India, and are taking precautions to face the surge of coronavirus infections here. Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi, who gasped for breath and fought for her life in an intensive care unit, after being afflicted with Covid-19, a couple of moons ago, must be knowing what it is like to be unable to breathe unassisted. Will she get cracking?