‘This is how we battled the second Covid-19 wave’

Ahmednagar DM Rajendra Bhosale and other officials interact with PM Narendra Modi on the Covid-19 situation through video conferencing

Ahmednagar Collector and District Magistrate (DM) Rajendra Bhosale on Thursday narrated to Prime Minister Narendra Modi the efforts his administration took to fight the second outbreak of Covid-19.

The PM held a video conference with 60 DMs, including 17 from Maharashtra, on the Covid-19 situation. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and health minister Rajesh Tope were among the invitees to Modi's online interaction. But neither Thackeray nor Tope spoke at the event, said people close to them, as the DMs were supposed to represent their states.

Bhosale visits a private Covid-19 hospital in April. Pic/Twitter

Six DMs presented their case studies, including Bhosale who spoke about his experiences of novel experiments, successful implementation of the central and state governments' preventive measures by way of coordination between all agencies and encouraging public participation in their fight against Covid-19 in Ahmednagar - one of the worst-hit districts.

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He also talked about the state's model of testing, tracing, vaccination, and also mobilisation of village panchayat for tracing, tracking and treating.

Public participation in 1,316 gram panchayats were encouraged under the leadership of Popatrao Pawar, a Padma Shri awardee rural reformer. Pawar created a model of forming teams in villages to look after the Covid-19-affected residents' domestic needs, including farming and cattle care, Bhosale explained to the PM.

Early treatment helped

Pawar's Hiwarebazar village succeeded using the model that was implemented in the state's biggest district. At village level, the DM directly contacted the talathi, sarpanch, gramsevak, police patil for implementation of the CM's 'my family, my responsibility' programme which helped in tracing people with comorbidities and treating them before the ailment worsened. State's other programme ‘My Doctor' helped the people. Nodal officers were appointed for each task.

In the second wave, home isolation was stopped and all active patients were treated at Covid-19 care centres. This stopped transmission. Oxygen management was done through a special team that avoided panic. The district's 14 rural hospitals will now have oxygen plants to support 1,750 more oxygen beds, Bhosale informed Modi.

During the interaction, union health secretary Luv Agarwal appreciated the BMC for its oxygen management, especially the creation of buffer stocks and public announcement of credentials of the officers responsible for distribution.

CM congratulates DM

Later, Thackeray called up Bhosale to congratulate him for an excellent presentation. Earlier, Modi had appreciated Thackeray for the state government's efforts in tackling the pandemic, and the Niti Aayog chief had praised the Mumbai model. They hailed praises on the state even as the Maharashtra BJP accused the Thackeray government of hiding Covid-19 figures and falling short of efforts to reduce the death toll.

Tope, after the interaction, asked the Centre for a policy to make vaccines and medicines available in the national and international markets.

He said the state's global tender for procuring 5 crore vials of Covid-19 vaccine hadn't received response yet. "We have relaxed tender terms, but no vaccine manufacturer has responded as yet," he said, requesting the Centre to give Maharashtra more vaccines in the free quota and help in buying vaccines for the 18-44 age group beneficiaries. "Though the interim period between the first and second dose has been increased, we cannot delay the first dose. The waitlisted people for the second dose will always be our priority," he said.

On the mucormycosis, Tope said the disease has so far claimed 90 lives in the state, which needs increased supply of medicine to treat it.