Scanning through the various write-ups in the news papers and social media, it appears that we are allowing our minds to be gripped by emotions rather than allowing our minds to be governed by reason. This approach to the ongoing crisis is only giving rise to confusion instead of solution to the challenge. The problem before us is a virus problem and the task is how to contain it before it consumes us. The need of a testing lab is a necessity to ascertain who is corona positive or negative. Shouting for installing a lab in all the districts now is not going to cure the patients because the lab is not the cure. What is urgently required is to equip the entire district Covid hospitals with the necessary update of medical facilities and posting of required doctors and nurses to see to it that every district Covid hospital is capable of treating the patients kept under their care confidently and with pride.
The installation of a testing lab at NHAK is for every citizen of the State and hence it is nothing special for the denizens of Kohima District with regard to treatment of Covid-19 patients as it is only a lab and not a medicine to cure the virus. The prime concern before us is our brothers and sisters returning home in packs. And in this pandemic, overcrowding is the most suitable condition for the virus to spread like wild fire. In this regard, some organisations have genuinely expressed their opinion as to how to avoid overcrowding as it is a direct defeat to social distancing norm. The only solution to this is to allow the returnees who are coming in thousands to go to their respective districts for each administration to regulate them in a manageable number. Herding them in thousands in a particular place also poses practical problem of feeding them daily with proper food and accommodating each one of them in individual quarantine rooms.
Quarantine of the returnees cannot be in a dormitory of schools and colleges but have to be in single rooms. If so, such halls or class rooms should be partitioned on temporary basis before accommodating the returnees otherwise it nullifies the reason of quarantine. Separate room for every returnee is a must for the reason that each returnee is a high probable covid suspect unless proven negative by a covid test. This is the factor that gives rise to accommodation difficulty in any single district or area as the case is.
The daunting problem before the government now is the congregation of returnees in thousands, batch by batch, into Dimapur and Kohima with only minimal available accommodation facility. It was for this reason that quarantine centers and covid hospitals were set up in every district. The paramount need to be done now is to mobilise resources and immediately standardise every designated district covid hospital to be able to treat covid patients. Talking about installation of testing labs in districts now is not sound because patients are here already.
Nothing should matter in this hour of crisis except the common good. During this period, our mindset should be to expect the worst, do our best with determination and dedication. May the crisis transform us into better people!
Jonas Yanthan
yanthanjonas@gmail.com
