A LOOMING CALAMITY

POOR MEDICAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND LACK OF PREPAREDNESS ARE SEVERELY COMPROMISING THE FIGHT AGAINST COVID IN RURAL AND SMALL-TOWN INDIA

- RAHUL NORONHA

Giridhari Lal Thakrey, 50, a school teacher in village Katang Tola, 50-odd km from the district headquarters of Balaghat in eastern Madhya Pradesh, complained of fever, cough, and cold on April 12. He was taken to the government health centre in Waraseoni, the block headquarters, where he died the following day. His wife Tomeshwari Thakrey complained of similar symptoms on April 14 and passed away the same evening. Soon, Giridhari’s elder brother, Kunwar Lal, developed symptoms, tested positive for Covid and was admitted to a hospital in Waraseoni. Katang Tola and adjoining Jhaliwada village have at least 300 people with influenza-like symptoms, but most of them are resisting Covid testing or treatment, believing it to be seasonal flu. Now, following the deaths, a degree of concern has set in.

After overwhelming the health apparatus in cities and towns across states, Covid is spreading into the rural areas, which had largely remained unaffected in the first wave in 2020, creating a myth among many that Covid is an urban phenomenon. It’s not only in MP that villages are witnessing a surge in cases. Rural Maharashtra is perhaps the worst hit and is contributing more cases to the state’s total tally than its urban areas. Rajasthan, too, is reporting a rapid increase in Covid cases from the rural areas while the spread in rural Uttar Pradesh is being blamed, among other things, on the flouting of Covid protocols during the panchayat elections being held through April.