Pritika has been a game-changer and leader in the healthcare sector. Her business interests vary across many fields from healthcare business, beauty, mental health, yoga, meditation and the pharma industry. She is also actively pursuing women rights, philosophy, and is a relationship coach. She has worked towards women empowerment and other women-centric issues. She became the CEO of Prayag Hospital at the age of 23. Under her leadership, Prayag hospital expanded and opened at 2 more locations. She has also organized free camps, yearly, for acid attack victims and undertakes around 100 surgeries at nominal costs to help better the lives of these survivors.
Hospitals and healthcare services globally have grown in significance during the ongoing wave of a global pandemic. Amid the speculated third wave of the Coronavirus due to hit India soon, we must strengthen these institutions by providing them with proper resources and maintaining a steady supply.
The state and the central governments must work together to ensure proper support to the hospitals and doctors. This is the only way to we can fight and be prepared while we face this ongoing crisis.
The second wave has taught us about the importance of proper oxygen supply. We’ve witnessed the horrors of oxygen scarcity and how it can claim lives in a matter of seconds. It is imperative to ensure a proper oxygen supply in the third wave and take all necessary measures to avoid any scarcity-like situation. It is one of the vital elements that can make or break the fight for us.
Lockdown should seriously be considered as an option against the third wave. Since we’ve already reached a stage where flattening the curve is not an option anymore, we should consider total lockdown for a fortnight. If not, we must work around and combine our efforts to delay the third wave for as long as possible. Keeping our travels to a minimum is one of the ways for doing this. If we manage to prevent the third wave for a prolonged period, we can use the time to strengthen our preparations and figure out a steady supply of resources. Lockdown has a devastating effect on the economy, but there are certain things that the government must consider in order to save lives.
Tracking cases in real-time is also crucial going ahead. Since studies suggest that the third wave will affect the kids more, developing an app-based quick update system for the family members can also help. The kids won’t manage to inform their parents/relatives about their state and the treatments procedures. In such scenarios, an app-based tracking system will help the parents monitor the treatment procedure of their kids in real-time through updates fed by the hospital staff in the application.
Since the matter is related to kids, consulting the pediatricians to maintain a stock of kids-specific medicines should also prove helpful. Establishing special care wards for kids is another feasible option since their needs, preferences, and response to the treatment will vary from adults.
The hospital authorities should also arrange a proper sensitizing training process for their staff members to equip them with any extra skill set that may enable them to be more careful and attentive towards the kids. After all, treating the kids can be an entirely different experience as opposed to treating the adults.
Keeping the kids away from their parents during the treatment duration will be a challenge in itself. Providing the kids with interactive games and online session that they can indulge in while laying on their beds can prove helpful in tackling such a scenario.
Since Covaxin, one of the vaccines available in India, has already entered the trial phase for kids between 2 to 18 years, timely approval should be a matter of focus. If we happen to arrive at a safe approval for the vaccine in time, we must focus on vaccinating the maximum number of kids before the third wave sets. If we manage to achieve this, we can consider half the battle won already.
Lastly, we must take all possible measures to ensure that the third wave, whenever it sets in, finds a vaccinated population to a large extent. Large-scale vaccination combined with a robust and well-prepared healthcare system can give us an edge in this fight against the Coronavirus.