Breathing easy, by preparing well
BENGALURU: UST a few hundred fresh Covid-19 cases may not set off panic yet — but what happens if the numbers suddenly double or triple, like they did before? Are we really ready this time?
A reality check by TNIE reveals that Karnataka is not taking any chances. After witnessing the devastation caused by previous Covid-19 waves, particularly the oxygen crisis during the second wave, the health and medical education department are moving swiftly to ensure that critical infrastructure built during the pandemic doesn't fall into disuse.
Take the Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen generating plants, for instance. During the peak of the pandemic, 243 such plants were installed across district and taluk hospitals to ensure a steady oxygen supply. Each plant came with an annual maintenance cost of around Rs 5 lakh. In the months that followed, as Covid cases declined, many of these units were neglected and became defunct.
But now, with cases gradually rising again in neighbouring countries and also within Karnataka, the state has reactivated most of these plants. District health officials have been instructed to carry out maintenance checks and ensure they are fully operational — a move that seems like a lesson learnt against the overall scramble seen during earlier waves.
The state has kept its systems warm — from oxygen infrastructure and isolation wards to rapid testing capabilities — and officials say they are prepared to scale up within days if required. Rather than treating preparedness as a 'crisis-only' strategy, the state is treating it as a permanent feature of its health system. The panic button has been pressed early — not because the situation is dire yet, but because the cost of being unprepared is one the state cannot afford to repeat, officials say.
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