M A Y A B A Z A R

 Mahatma Gandhi once said, "The greatness of humanity is not in being human, but in being Humane."

In the retrogressive situations like the one which our country India is currently facing, the meaning of this quote is making far more sense than it did in normal circumstances. The world faced its worst crisis since the Bubonic Plague also called Black Death in 1347. As lockdown was easing in most parts of India, making the citizens think it couldn't get better, things started looking down. In the month of April, some states in India recorded a mammoth number of cases and the onset of the second wave was officially declared by the government.

India began its vaccination program on the 16th of January for elderly citizens and frontline workers and gradually expanded it to citizens above the age of 45 and then to citizens above the age of 18. The second wave of the Novel Corona virus was probably the worst health crisis the country has faced. It brings shivers to my body just thinking about how patients struggled to find beds in hospitals, queued up outside hospitals awaiting medical oxygen but to no avail. Medicines essential for the treatment of COVID-19 like Remdesivir, Fabiflu, Favipravir and Tocilizumab to name a few, were short in supply and in some states were out of stock due to the acute rise of cases and demand for it.

 

 People were under the impression that these medicines will not be available and hoarded tablets as well as injections, which prevented them from being available to people who were in genuine need of them and those whose lives depended on their consumption.

Due to the sheer lack of resources available 'legally', and the failure of the government to build a stockpile of special drugs for Covid treatment, people resorted to taking desperate measures in order to keep their loved ones alive. In certain cases, they turned to unproven medical treatments, in others to black market. Black marketing of medications led to an extreme surge in the prices of these Life-Saving medicines. The original price for the 100 milligram vial of the drug ranges from 1001 to 4,500 rupees but in many parts of the country, patients were forced to shell out 43,000 rupees on Remdesivir that was obtained through the black market. This environment was felicitous for those operating black markets. They hoarded vital supplies and created an artificial shortage. They then sold it to hapless people at exorbitant rates, deceiving poor people.

In Delhi alone, the police registered over 110 cases and arrested 100 for cheating people by promising to help them with vital drugs and medical oxygen. Fifty-two other cases have been filed against black marketing and hoarding. Many private hospitals flouted the price caps set by the government by overcharging for PPE kits, treatment in Intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital rooms among others. 

People looked to profit through the pandemic, which aggravated patient distress and even led to loss of lives. Having experienced first hand the struggle and the willingness to cross borders in order to save the life of someone you love, my heart goes out to everyone who has lost someone they cherish. All we can do is hope that if we ever face such a tragedy again, we as a country are better equipped to fight it willfully.

 

                                                   *all the views of the author are personal*