Continuing Lockdown will devastate India

Continuation of lockdown is not good for the country or people. The earlier we lift the lockdown & get back to business the better. We definitely do not want people to die of starvation & hunger. I have earlier too stuck to the stand that lock downs or seal downs are a privilege to the vast majority of Indians.

Lockdowns are a privilege. It means you can afford to be at home.

Most of the ways to ward off Corona are accessible only to the affluent.

In essence, a disease that was spread by the rich as they flew around the globe will now kill millions of the poor.

— ಶರಣ Dr Jagadish J Hiremath (@Kaalateetham) March 23, 2020

Medical Rationale: We need the young amongst us to get infected. It is just another Flu, yes worse than the ones we saw before but still a flu. It is very similar to the fact that we want our young military officers at forefront of our wars. We need our young to get out of homes; so that they can get infected and their innate immunity gets spread as herd immunity. 

Have you come across any reports of a child of school going age with no co-morbidities in trouble? We are a nation with average age of 26.8 years, we should not be scared of Corona.

In an ironic way, what Tabligi Jamat did is going to be good in the end, they have a very young pool of people & herd immunity will come in fast among them while the rest of us sit at homes & expect Corona to somehow miraculously vanish.

Let me assure you, Corona will not vanish, not until there is herd immunity either by vaccine or naturally. Proper vaccine may not happen before next September (2021) as per estimates available. My advise is to get out of our homes & go restart our businesses or work following safety precautions known now.

No Free Lunch: Nobody is going to pay you. Nothing comes free remember!

Why the hell are we Indians idle when Sweden which has older population is continuing to be in business? Who is advising our people in power?

Let us guess, a million people died due to this removing of lockdown. It accounts to less than 0.1% of our population. In a pandemic it is great. As a doctor I can tell you that the deaths due to Corona might be about 20-25% more than what we would have seen in the case of seasonal flu. A particular group of people are vulnerable keep them isolated & safe. Please do not go by exaggeration, already everyone is accepting that they might have estimated deaths on higher side.

It is wrong to assume crores will die when our population mean age is 26.8. There are other factors influencing too including our social & cultural practices.

Fear of death should not bring our economy to a grinding halt, till a vaccine is produced. From the one who grows food to the one who is distributing it everyone should get back to work; lest we all die of hunger. The same goes to every industry. How long you want the farmer indoor or a food processor indoor? What will we do after the godowns get empty? What will majority of our population who live everyday existence do? Who will feed them? I am already seeing many of my daily wage earning patients & their families in trouble. Some have become dependent on food cooked in community kitchens & given to them. They may be on the road without a roof on their head in May, if they cannot pay the rent of the tenement they live in. Who will take care of these people? 

When I asked a regular patient of mine what he will do as he cannot go back to his native in Jharkhand he replied "राम जाने" (Only Bhagvan Ram knows)in tears. Here is a young 26 year old crying & his wife trying to console him, it was a gut wrenching sight to watch. Give him his livelihood back guys. What successive governments have given these people is only pain. I appreciate it because I came from such a background not very long ago.

If the hospitals get overwhelmed so be it. Let the people & our Govt know that it is wrong to be spending less than 2% of our GDP on Healthcare.

If economy is not addressed right now our poor will face a generation of slavery. As we make them vulnerable to predators around. Already I am seeing the noose of bad loans with high interest rates killing them. Nobody cares about these people in our country!

Industry & Traders: India today is a nation of shop keepers. Are you going to be surprised if I told you that all our surgical disposable purchases are from China or Malaysia. Simple surgical gloves cost has gone up 8 times because of lockdown. Masks cost 20 times of their pre Corona day price. Because we do not manufacture it & have to depend on China/Malaysia.

In this scenario, our Govt want us to sit at home not addressing these pressing issues. A sensible Govt understands that it cannot provide solutions for everything, it should guide citizens in the right direction so that we are not dependent on foreign products. Govt should guide us to become a nation of manufacturers self sufficient first. It should ask the banks to open their vaults & give loans to people in service & manufacturing sector of Healthcare thereby opening up new jobs for its people. The Healthcare spending must touch at least 5% of GDP if we have to give better care to people.

Let the revolution begin or else we all will die a poor nation. Let the people wear their masks & gloves and get back to work to put our economy back in reckoning. Let the red zones be quarantined heavily but allow others to come out & work so that they can feed themselves & their families.

Continuing lockdown will devastate us & there will be more deaths + suffering due to hunger. If Corona deaths are bad for PR, let me assure you : deaths due to hunger will be the end of BJP