War against virus

After the second wave of the coronavirus in March 2021, particularly the Delta variant, the world was literally crippled socially, economically and psychologically and it was with dread that people received the predictions of epidemiologists about the third wave by end of 2021. In fact, the expected and dreaded third wave of covid has already arrived. The third wave has arrived in the form of Omicron by end of 2021 and has begun to gradually and consistently rise to become another wave. In Nagaland low testing has hidden the actual number of fresh covid cases. It can be assumed that only a fraction of the people are testing or roughly 165 per thousand population, the lowest or rather the slowest in the country. Nagaland had the lowest sample test ratio not only in the North-east but also among the States in India. Only the union territory of Daman & Diu and Dadra Nagar Haveli had a lower test ratio. The untested covid cases continue to be a cause of much concern since the ever-mutating virus has the potential of becoming as dangerous as the Delta variant. There is much to be done to contain many diseases, especially the mutating coronavirus in the state where numbers are rising and which could be phenomenal if testing is done. Dimapur, as usual, is the centre of all tropical diseases in Nagaland and which means it merits having a well equipped laboratory for dangerous and infectious diseases. The focus of health care in Dimapur should be to provide diagnosis and treatment to many ailments but till today, there has been no effort to establish a modern diagnostic laboratory. It may be reminded that while the state government spnds huge amount on purchases of items most of which are not urgently required yet there has been no inclination to tackle the problem of widespread of various diseases by setting up a tropical disease laboratory. In the light of several private hospitals and nursing homes filled with patients suffering from various complaints whose treatment depend upon results of laboratory tests; the issue of setting up of a fully equipped laboratory is a crying need. Private hospitals and nursing homes may not have the resources to set up such a laboratory whereas the state government can pursue the proposal and necessary funds with the centre. With the outbreak of Omicron which needed to be identified through genome sequencing and various viral diseases, the state government needs to decide the course to be taken. Left as it is, Nagaland will continue to depend on other laboratories for disease control including forensic science. When the state can obtain hundreds of crores of rupees for projects that are not as crucial, it is time to give a serious thought on setting up of a modern laboratory in any government hospital. The cost in terms of time, resources as well as inconvenience to the patients can only be imagined. Perhaps the state government will consider the matter and do whatever necessary to elevate the standard of modern health care that will serve the people presently as well as in the years to come.