This pandemic has by now turned into a full blown disaster. It damaged the businesses beyond recognition. It snatched livelihood at a mass scale. Not only the material loss, it snatched lives in thousands now. We are still reeling under this crisis, and the disaster is still unfolding. We are undergoing a second wave and the costs, in terms of lives and livelihoods, are being paid every day. The government is trying to do what it can in terms of making more bed facilities, arranging more oxygen supply, establishing emergency treatment centres – all this is done to deal with the mounting numbers of covid infected cases. At the same time other facilities needed to treat the patients who are severely affected by the virus are being put in place. This is the focus area right now, and despite all shortcomings the government is trying hard to meet the challenges presented by this pandemic. At the same time we have voluntary organisations who are chipping in and trying to provide assistance to the existing healthcare system. They are arranging oxygen, and other medicine for the affected people. We have seen how the term Oxygen Langer got popularised during this pandemic. It was the effort of some noble souls that helped a lot in this situation. Similarly there are groups that are helping people with food and other necessities of life. But there is one area where the focus is still missing. There are some who have been hit so hard by this pandemic that it will take a generation for them to recover. They lost multiple members and their resources dried up while battling the infection. The government and the voluntary groups need to find such families and make long term arrangements for them. The announcement of the Delhi government that the children who lost both parents to covid will be provided free education and free ration is a good example in this case. We also need to find such families and make arrangements for the education of their children, and also arrange provisions for them. These are extraordinary times and we need extraordinary efforts to mitigate the effects of the pandemic.
Devastated Families
