Dr Gitanjali Batmanabane, Director, AIIMS, Bhubaneswar talks about how the State and institute dealt with Covid-19 and how people can prevent future waves.
How has the second wave of pandemic affected Odisha?
During the second surge, we have seen a lot of young patients in their 30s. More patients needed intensive care management as many of them came late for medical help after 10 to 14 days of the symptoms. Besides, we saw the clustering of infection, which means the entire families were hospitalised. In the last two weeks, the infectivity rate has come down by nearly 50 per cent and the number of people requiring admission and intensive care is also showing a downward trend.
How did your AIIMS respond to surge in the cases?
During the second wave, the biggest challenge was to meet the huge expectations of the people. We were getting large numbers of patients, both Covid and non-Covid. Most of the non-Covid patients were those who needed immediate medical care.
So, to provide them the best care during the pandemic was quite a task. In addition, as we are a teaching institution, we continued to conduct online classes. Besides, we were also involved in capacity building in Covid testing for the State. We helped about 30 to 40 medical colleges in Odisha and West Bengal with RTPCR testing. It has been a learning experience for us because we had to quickly ramp up our services.
What, according to you, was the major cause for the second wave? How can we prevent these waves?
There could be multiple factors responsible for the steep increase in the number of cases, but I feel the most important factor was the lack of Covid-appropriate behaviour among people.
Soon after the first wave subsided, people had stopped wearing masks, and those who were wearing them were not wearing them properly. They stopped maintaining physical distance. So, the carelessness on people’s part was hugely responsible for the quick spread of the infection.
Unless we make wearing masks a part of our lifestyle, we will keep witnessing these surges. Besides, the newer variants might behave in an unpredictable manner; so, it is important to remain vigilant. Then, it is important for people to get themselves vaccinated. It is only through vaccination that we can develop herd immunity against the deadly virus. We emphasise that vaccine and appropriate behaviour can lead to fall in hospitalisation
Are you seeing a lot of cases of mucormycosis?
Currently, we have about 40 patients with mucormycosis. Nearly 50 per cent of the total number of mucormycosis patients in the State is admitted at AIIMS. Most patients of mucormycosis, who are coming to our hospital, are those referred to us by other hospitals. They are coming in a severe condition. Besides, we are getting patients from the neighbouring States as well. To be able to treat mucormycosis effectively, it is important that we detect it at an early stage.
Do you see any vaccine hesitancy in the State?
When we started out in January, there was quite a bit of vaccine hesitancy, but post the second wave, what we are witnessing is vaccine urgency. It is also because all the vaccines have completed the process of regulatory and administrative approvals; and so, people are now much more confident. Besides, people want to get back to normal life and they have realised that taking a vaccine is the first step towards it.
Interestingly, we see this enthusiasm for vaccines not only among the urban population but also among the people in rural areas. I feel that we need to quickly vaccinate a large number of people; and for that, we need to facilitate vaccination near homes. We can utilise schools, auditoriums and other such spaces for the purpose.