Agra Covid situation grim as medical infra overstressed
In Agra, the number of fresh cases officially reported on Monday was 437, with six deaths. The total number of active cases now stands at 4,197. This unprecedented surge in the number of fresh Covid-19 cases in Agra has pushed the city's medical infrastructure close to a virtual collapse. This has caused an overstress to the medical infrastructure there.
The situation is described as grim and alarming in medical circles. Neither the district administrative machinery nor the political leadership of the city can provide a direction or help with coordination of efforts in these difficult times, complain victims and family members of the patients.
"Not just the doctors, but the ambulance was, the pathology labs, the chemists, and even the managers of the cremation grounds are all out to squeeze the victims. When there is no cure for Covid-19 patients are forced to purchase medicines and go for tests costing thousands of rupees," said an elderly family member of a 40-year-old patient outside a nursing home. Health activist Paras defines the situation as "worse than a war".
"Panic is writ large everywhere. The markets are totally deserted. The lockdown has brought life to a halt. What they are doing now, could have been done much earlier," said a senior citizen Sudhir Gupta of Vijay Nagar Colony.
Sources report that the past 10 days have taken in three journalists and half a dozen businessmen to death. Three members of a political family also succumbed to COVID 19.
Around 50 private nursing homes are giving services to Covid patients and all have put Housefull signboards. The Covid wards of the S N Medical College and the district hospital are already full. A big chunk of Covid victims is isolated at their homes and being provided telemedicine and consultation.
A senior doctor of Shanti Ved Hospital said "conditions were not at all looking good. The doctors at great risk to themselves are working round the clock. We have had to depute a special team for managing the Oxygen crisis."
Some people also blame the Kumbh Mela and political rallies as a key reason for this surge. Thye believes that people who headed back from these events contributed to the surge.
"The premature triumphalism of the union government and a degree of overconfidence displayed at the political rallies and the Kumbh Mela has pushed the country to the brink of a precipice. How and when normalcy would return, only God knows," lamented senior hotelier of Agra, Surendra Sharma.
"In any case, there is a total mismatch between ground realities and the health department statistics. The whole rural hinterland of Agra has been engulfed in the Covid Tsunami. Every home has one or more patients down with fever, viral, or Covid," said social activist Shravan Kumar Singh. The burning pyres and the long waiting lists at the Taj Ganj crematorium give a lie to the official figures routinely released each day, activist Ranjan Sharma rued.
Across social media and other interactive spaces, people can be seen both seeking help and providing help with things like oxygen supply, plasma donors, and Remdesivir injections. But Sharma argues that despite good samaritans turning up, their efforts are too little against a mighty challenge.
(With IANS Inputs)
Also Read: COVID: Long queues at cremation centres in Agra as bodies pile up
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