COVID-19 pandemic is the seventh ''biological'' disaster notified by the government in 44 years.
The first was Ebola virus in 1976 which claimed 14,700 lives globally, followed by Nipah virus in 1999 which claimed 265 lives; SARS in 2002 (780), H1N1 in 2003 (450), H1N1 (swine flu) in 2009 which claimed the largest number of lives (17,000) till now and the 2012 MERS (Middle east respiratory syndrome) that claimed 860 lives.
Till now, the death toll for COVID-19 stands at 7,332 worldwide even as the ''worldometer'' is being tracked by the disaster management authorities to keep track of what they are also calling a ''threatening disaster'' given the fact that no agency in the world has been able to determine its global impact.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is on its toes as the biological disaster cannot be prevented by medical or clinical interventions alone. The response COVID-19 is demanding is much bigger. For the government machinery, which is working overtime to control the pandemic, it is simply not the health ministry they are looking towards.
''The response work in a biological disaster falls under the ambit of the health ministry, but before that there is the huge responsibility of capacity building,'' said a senior official in-charge of disaster management, who did not wish to be named.
The four-member apex body on disaster management works under the charter of duties assigned to it under the Disaster Management Act 2005 which lays down detailed guidelines on various disaster— natural and man-made—which includes chemical, biological and nuclear disasters among others. Under successive governments, the NDMA has attempted to perform the overarching role of building synergy between the Centre and states over handling disasters through drafting standard operating procedures, guidelines, training, awareness and most importantly acting as the nodal centre for funding and manpower deployment to meet exigencies.
However, over the years, not only has the role of the NDMA been limited, the power centre for disaster management shifted to the Union home ministry for smooth coordination with state governments.
What remains are the precautions and procedures that were put in place by the NDMA. In 2009, detailed guidelines had been issued on management of biological disasters; detailed guidelines were also issued in 2007 on medical preparedness and in 2016 guidelines were issued on hospital safety measures.
It appears that such detailed measures remained on paper. The DM Act mandated that there should be a holistic disaster management plan and all departments and ministries of the government—not just health ministry—has such a disaster management plan that takes into account capacity building, mitigation, management and so on. The idea was to prepare all arms of the government to tackle any disaster since it would affect all sectors. The idea was also to prepare the government with a coordinated response.
Sources, however, revealed that most ministries do not have a disaster management plan and each department was working in silos when it came to implementing the mandate of the act.
“This approach has not only increased the burden on the health ministry, but created gaps in training the people and society at large on how to respond to a situation like the COVID-19 outbreak,'' said a senior official.
However, experts said there is still time to prevent a further downslide by creating SOPs and making the community aware about their role in controlling the pandemic.
Former NDMA vice chairman Shashidhar Reddy said in disaster management, the government needs to prepare for the worst case scenario where it needs to focus on increasing testing facilities, ensure that the isolation wards do not become breeding grounds for the virus and build resources on war footing to provide kits to anyone irrespective of the fact that they have travelled to a foreign country or not.
Neglect at an early stage led to the situation worsening in Italy. Not just the health authorities but the district collectors, police superintendents, fire department and policemen have to chip in first. Detailed SOPs must be issued to each department at the local level to ensure precautionary steps are enforced, said Reddy.
He further said Indian patients, who have been tested positive in a foreign country, should be allowed to enter India and isolation facilities be made available to them. ''Where else will the Indians get treated if not their own home country. I am told this is a growing concern and needs to be addressed,'' said the former vice president of NDMA.
Though Reddy lamented that the pioneering role of the NDMA has been reduced to an advisory body, he felt that the disaster management bodies, both at the central and state level, need to pull up their socks before the burden on the critical health resources increases manifold.