7 Lessons From The Pandemic

News: It seems that the Covid-19 pandemic may become endemic soon. In the last 2 years, Covid-19 has tested Indian governance among a number of other things. Therefore, it provides scope for learning a number of lessons from the recent covid experiences

What lessons can be learnt from India’s experience with the Covid Pandemic?

Firstly, The Indian government could have adopted a selective and targeted lockdown. The harsh and too severe lockdown resulted in the loss of millions of jobs and a lot of misery for poor migrants. For example, Bangladesh issues four days’ notice to the people to go back to their homes before imposing a lockdown.

Secondly, India failed to reform the healthcare sector. It is still rigid, inept, inefficient, ineffective and plagued with bureaucratic problems. In contrast, Thailand has linked its public and private systems to ensure healthcare reforms. It also improved its primary healthcare networks. In contrast, 33% of the nurses and 40% of doctors are absent and medicines are often stolen in India’s rural primary healthcare network.

Thirdly, the accurate data like testing, infections, deaths data at a neighbourhood level and an authentic geotagged database are important for predicting the epidemic’s evolution. It helps in taking right policy response. For example, the Kerala model has been a success story in taking the right decision.

Fourthly, India’s vaccination drive could have been better had the government pre-ordered vaccines early. Although it was impressive that vaccine drive was well coordinated, cost-effective and digitally managed. For example, India’s got vaccine certificates instantly.

Fifthly, on the government’s fiscal response. The Indian government provided free rations and a rural job guarantee through credit easing. This effectively prevented tragedy.

Sixthly, related to the educational system. The power of technology was used in education delivery, for example, the virtual classrooms were started. But it was limited to privileged children who had internet access. Poor kids without smartphones or connectivity failed to maintain their education level.

Lastly, on ideological beliefs. India needs a blend of central planning and market-based reforms. Although market-based reforms brought widespread prosperity, the poor were left at the mercy of the rich. Therefore, central planning is also needed to protect the weak.

Source: The post is based on an article “7 Lessons from The Pandemic” published in The Times of India on 02^nd April 2022.