Quo Vadis- COVID 19 – Where are we going?

‘Quo Vadis’, where are we going?
This question has occurred to all of us during these uncertain times of COVID.

As we proceed with the unlocking of the Lockdown, we need to learn new COVID appropriate behaviour and habits, to protect ourselves and our families and our communities from this infection.

To address this question and prepare ourselves to learn to live with the Corona virus, on 11^th September 2020, V Citizens Action Network (VCAN) organized another fully-digital Social Sanchar v2.0, to facilitate citizens interaction once again with Shri. Suresh Kakani IAS, Addl. Municipal Commissioner, MCGM and Prof (Dr) Gautam Sen, Member Board of Governors, National Health System Resource Centre, a technical arm of Govt. of India.

Due to an emergency meeting convened by Hon’ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri. Kakani was unable to join, however, he deputed Dr. Hemant Deshmukh, Dean of KEM hospital and Dr. Daksha Shah, Deputy Executive Health Officer MCGM, to join the session.

The session was broadcast live on Facebook and YouTube, with Twitter linked to YouTube channel, and was joined by viewers across the city, and around the globe.

Smt. Indrani Malkani, Chairman & Managing Trustee of VCAN, started the Social Sanchar with a welcome address. She gave a brief introduction about VCAN mentioning its overarching objective, which is to establish effective linkages between Government and Citizens and that VCAN works in partnership with several Government Authorities.

She reaffirmed VCAN’s focus on the safety and security of people, families, and communities and predominantly during the COVID19 pandemic.

Smt. Malkani mentioned VCAN’s interactive web portal, togethervcan.in which gives citizens access to multiple issues on a single platform.

VCAN’s interactive live talk shows, or Social Sanchar’s which have the motto ‘interact with your government from wherever you are’ now have switched to fully digital in light of the pandemic and ensuing health concerns.

Smt. Malkani then expressed grateful thanks to VCAN’s Health and Well-being Partner Healthspring, for supporting this Social Sanchar.

She expressed her appreciative thanks towards Team Teknowlegion for powering the fully digital Social Sanchars and for always being vigilant and keeping VCAN’s Web portal going. She thanked VCAN’s social media consultant Mr. Sumit Lulla, and particularly the students of VCAN’s College Partner Jai Hind College, as well as colleagues and networking partners and friends in the media and all the viewers.

Thereafter, Smt. Malkani invited her fellow trustee Shri. V. Ranganathan, to introduce Dr Hemant Deshmukh, Dr. Daksha Shah and Prof. (Dr.) Gautam Sen, and also to highlight a few crucial points for discussion. She stated that Shri Ranganathan was Mumbai’s former Municipal Commissioner and has also led the State of Maharashtra as the Chief Secretary.

After introducing the guest speakers, Shri Ranganathan impressed the importance of this Social Sanchar session and cited some of the issues that were raised in the earlier session with Shri. Suresh Kakani and were still awaiting updates.

To view profile of  Prof. (Dr.) Gautam Sen  click here

To view profile of  Dr. Hemant Deshmukh  click here

Profile of Dr. Daksha Shah is below:

Dr. Daksha Shah
Dy. Executive Health Officer, MCGM

Dr. Shah is an MBBS and has done her Post Graduate in public health. She is Masters in health leadership at McGill University. She is a Fulbright scholar. Working in MCGM for 25 years, she has led many public health campaigns and programmes like TB, NCD, Epidemiology and currently, she is involved in COVID response.

Smt. Malkani then invited both Dr. Hemant Deshmukh and Dr. Daksha Shah to give their opening remarks and address the following issues;

• About COVID appropriate behaviour that we as individuals need to get used to.
• The care and handling of COVID patients who are severely disabled and faculty impaired at the same time. This issue is extremely important as many concerns have been received.
• Similarly, the COVID patients who are emotionally breaking down in hospital. They need Counselling but process not really known.
• Is there any system of communication between the admitted patient’s GP and the doctors at the COVID Wards/centres? This is especially relevant to patients with comorbidities.
• In view of municipal schools reopening in a phased manner from 21st September, what safety process would be followed? Would there be a comprehensive check-up organized including COVID tests of all children, their parents and HMs and teachers, housekeeping staff as well as a part of School Health Program?
• What are the current Rules applicable to Housing Societies?
• How to stop the spread of misinformation on wearing of masks, as well as containment zones?
• Was there a definite rise in numbers after the Ganesh Chathurthi and how to slow the transmission numbers during Diwali which is a nationwide festival?

Dr. Deshmukh spoke first followed by Dr. Daksha Shah.

Both of them touched upon various aspects of COVID-19 related problems. They addressed issues such as coordination between doctors and disabled patients with chronic issues, various protocols being followed by hospitals, and the treatment of patients with comorbidities or faculty impairment. They also spoke about potential comprehensive health check-ups, especially COVID tests for patients with and without symptoms and also about the vaccine being developed and what that could mean for the citizens of the country.

They also spoke of opening up schools and colleges, and the reintegration of socially distanced interaction in people’s lives, especially with regards to interactions with house help, society maintenance staff and tuition teachers.

Dr. Daksha Shah gave a brief about the ongoing COVID-19 situation, testing facilities, COVID centres, issues related to private hospitals, about the Ward Wise COVID Control Rooms in Mumbai, which works 24/7 and has ensured greater efficiency to deal with the patients.

She also spoke about MCGM’s forthcoming campaign “My Family My Responsibility”, with guidelines at individual & family level to avoid contracting Covid-19.

Click here to download the PDF version of the Guidelines of MCGM’s campaign “My Family My Responsibility”

The opening remarks both by Dr. Hemant Deshmukh and Dr. Daksha Shah were detailed and answers to many questions were addressed, please see the video to get a comprehensive understanding.

Smt. Malkani then invited Prof. (Dr.) Gautam Sen to make his opening remarks, and enlighten us;

• On strengthening Primary Care and Preventive Medicine
• On finding innovative methods for financing services to keep population healthy rather than focusing only on cost of treatment when it is too late.
• Individuals improving their immunity and healthiness, and investing first and foremost in their own health through timely prevention and primary care
• How healthcare providers whether in Public Sector or in Private Sector can work together as one team and involve the community at the Center and bring back the trust deficit which has developed in all section of the society

Prof. Sen stressed on the importance of not being afraid of the virus, and practicing healthy behaviours to combat it.

A few key points from Prof. Sen’s opening remarks are:

“Your health is in your own hands

Don’t be paranoid, prejudiced, xenophobic- which brings about social divisiveness. Self- discipline and Resolve, are necessary, to overcome this pandemic

Follow Government’s Guide Lines on Prevention

Be Pro- active, change your Life Style, Be conscious of your and your family’s Health and enroll yourself to an organized and robust Primary Care Clinic for your longitudinal care based on Prevention.

And finally, I will request all healthcare providers whether in Public Sector or in Private Sector to work together as one team and involve the community at the Center and bring back the trust deficit which has developed in all section of the society.”

To know the questions taken up and answered, by Dr Hemant Deshmukh, Dr. Daksha Shah and Prof. (Dr.) Gautam Sen, please see the video, the Q&A session starts at 53:11 minutes.

Few of the Q&A from the session are shared below:

Q – We see people moving around without masks even during lock out, is it safe? There are confusing statements regarding quality of mask and also about PPE. Your views.

A – Until we have a reliable vaccine, social distancing and wearing a mask are paramount – to protect yourself and equally to protect others. Various types of masks are available – please follow the latest guidelines – but remember that any mask is better than none, particularly given the high levels of asymptomatic carriers

Q – When is the vaccine available? Should we take flu shot when this pandemic is going on? What precautions we should take for our aged parents at home?

A – A safe, well-tested vaccine available for mass distribution is still many months away. In the meantime, you can and should take the Flu Vaccine, and continue to exercise the utmost discipline and restraint when it comes to your aged parents.

You must also ensure you are taking regular care of your health, focusing on staying healthy and ensuring routine medical needs are not ignored.

Q – What are the diagnostic tests for COVID19 and what are their significance? 

A – Currently the tests for Covid are the RT-PCR and the Rapid Antigen, both used to detect if a tested person has Covid right now. The government is continuing to make it easier for people to be tested, and we must ensure we are testing more as a country.

The Antibody test is used primarily for Serological surveys, and can be incredibly useful, as it tests if someone has already been exposed to Covid, and has at least some immunity. It can be very useful in determining return to work policies, as well as helping design policies for public health.

Q – If I have a non COVID medical emergency like Chest pain or symptoms of Stroke what should be our Plan such a situation?

A – As discussed earlier, taking care of your own health cannot take a back seat during Covid. In fact, the incidence of Covid is miniscule compared to the many other health conditions that we are subject to. Routine, chronic and emergency care must all be addressed promptly, and by so doing we can ensure better health for ourselves.

At the end of the exhaustive question-answer session, Smt. Malkani and Shri. Ranganathan thanked Dr. Deshmukh, Dr. Daksha Shah and Prof. Sen for their clear and informative responses. A lot of questions about government systems were answered transparently, which is extremely important given the panic a lot of citizens are facing due to misinformation being spread and the constant rise of cases.

Questions that could not be answered due to time constraints, even though the session time was extended, will be sent to the Guest Speakers and the answers will be published on VCAN’s web portal.

With this, Smt. Malkani closed the session, affirming that there was much work ahead.

Smt. Malkani then thanked VCAN’s trustees and the viewers for joining the session and ended the digital Social Sanchar.

To view the video of the event, click here