No one could have predicted at the start of the year, but the global COVID-19 pandemic, albeit in different scales, has radically changed the way human co-exist, particularly with fellow beings.
No one choose to go through these changes, mostly involuntary but considered crucial. All the spheres of life – social, economic, religious and other aspects have been profoundly impacted by the ongoing crisis. At the basic level, the way we eat, interact, work and practice religiosity.
As one deals with the new reality, the global public health emergency has brought out the best in humans as well as the other extreme. Many fault lines, both at societal and governance level, have had been exposed during the ongoing crisis.
As the lockdown measures ease further in India and Nagaland, it is pertinent to assess the outcomes and make course correction for the future.
We restrict our analysis to two aspects – healthcare related issues and societal reactions.
The healthcare system in the state was never considered a quintessentially ‘healthy.’ However, in the run up to the lockdown, at least theoretically, a working system to meet any eventuality was supposed to be in place. The fault line of deficient ground reality was aptly demonstrated with the detection of first case from the state. Things went haywire thereafter.
To be fair, the crisis itself is unprecedented and a workable mechanism for prevention, treatment and diagnoses, is still evasive globally.
Nagaland was no exception and admittedly, it’s a learning curve for the health and concerned authorities.
However, such lessons should not be discarded once the pandemic subsides but taken forward to tackle other public health issues.
For instance, the ongoing crisis has decisively demonstrated that the state is ill-equipped in all aspects to deal with big public health emergencies –in terms of health personnel and most importantly, the existing infrastructure and other facilities.
Mere rhetoric is no longer tenable and the pandemic has given an ample opportunity to the concerned authorities to revamp the moribund public healthcare system in Nagaland.
At the other end, the ongoing crisis has made one to raise a crucial poser: How informed, aware and rational are the general public?
A key takeaway from the ongoing crisis is that while the general public are bombarded with a great deal of information, many are either ill-informed or irrational; or perhaps informed cohorts are negligible.
Societal reactions to unfolding events during the current crisis attest to such inference. The anxiety felt by the citizens is understandable. It’s not the FOMO (fear of missing out) phenomenon increasingly common in an interconnected world, but simply a sombre realisation that the state is ill-prepared, if the pandemic were to hit in a big way. It is still being played out.
The nearly-one and half month lockdown, no doubt, have illustrated many lessons to be learnt or discarded.
Will the government and the general public be dynamic enough to incorporate the current lived experiences and adapt accordingly to the future?
For everyone’s benefit, both must adapt together for future on a collaborative mission.
