Nominal monetary relief for worst human suffering
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: December 20, 2021 -

IN terms of human suffering, there is nothing in living memory to match the outbreak of Covid-19, which has spared no nations - be they the most developed ones, economically orthe medically advanced.

While transmission of the infectious disease has been unstoppable due to unavoidable human-to-human contacts in this globalised era, it is the number of fatalities that the virus has been claiming every day which is the most worrisome facet of the pandemic.

For the wealthier ones there is realistic chance of surviving the pandemic even after getting infected but the same cannot be said of the economically underprivileged sections of the society as overcoming the viral disease depends on how efficiently the medical professionals in public healthcare centres discharge their duties.

Unarguably, healthcare personnel have been giving their all to serve every citizen in need but government hospitals accounting for overwhelming majority of deaths due to Covid-19 infection leaves ample room to speculate that some of the fatalities could have been prevented had the healthcare service providers tended to the ailing people with full adherence to the medical ethics.

Out of over 1.25 lakh people infected by the virus so far, the state is only five short of 2000 deaths, which is one of the highest Covid casualties in the northeast region after Assam.

Considering such a disturbing number of infections and deaths one can conveniently comprehend the financial impact of the virus on both the survivors and the families of the deceased for there are numerous reports of treatment cost in private hospitals running into lakhs of rupees.

Had the government healthcare centres, which were the first to start treatment of Covid patients and requisite equipment and material swiftly augmented, been efficient enough it is quite possible that neither the patients would have flocked to private hospitals nor slapped with the huge treatment bills, that too without saving the life of several patients.

Moreover, the deaths could have been far less had the government authorities conceded community spread of the disease when cases and fatalities started to rise midway into the first wave instead of trying to downplay gravity of the pandemic situation to cover up lapses in drawing up effective policy to contain the virus.

As India had witnessed maximum number of single day positive cases and fatalities during the second wave, amid the health ministry officials focusing towards giving prominence to figures related to healthy recoyery and test rates in the country, there is every reason to believe that the public got complacent and consequently abetted spread of the contagion that ultimately resulted in deaths of preventable cases.

Therefore, the state government's notification for paying ex-gratia assistance of Rs 50,000 to the next of kin of those who died due to Covid-19 should be devoid of any administrative lapses for however minuscule the amount might be it should at-least provide some cosmetic relief to those families who have spent a lot but still suffered loss of their near and dear ones.

Though minutes for receiving the financial compensation have been laid down in clear terms, it is hoped that officials entrusted with the task would remember that it's the families of the most economically vulnerable people who may lack requisite paperwork.