“Maharashtra has done very well in handling Covid”: Dr. Naresh Trehan

The maiden edition of the Health of India summit series focussed on Maharashtra and featured eminent speakers share their thoughts on the current fight against the pandemic, importance of data, and the road ahead for collaboration in integrating healthcare services in the country.

The Health of India series of virtual summits launched with the Maharashtra edition on 9th of July, 2021 saw a round of praise for the Maharashtra government’s handling of Covid-19 pandemic.

Dr. Naresh Trehan, Chairman and Managing Director, Medanta, said, “Having taken a deeper peek into Maharashtra’s handling of Covid, and the systems they have put in place, Maharashtra has done extremely well.” Dr. Subhash Salunke, Advisor on Covid-19 to the Maharashtra government said data collection is proving to be an important factor in the fight against the pandemic in Maharashtra. He said, “Data is generated at the most peripheral level, its importance is appreciated, and it also being used, for decision making at the district, divisional and at the state level.”

The first of the Health of India virtual summits – presented by NTT Data Business Solutions Private Limited and SAP, convened by Health Analytics Asia, and hosted by DataLEADS— featuring Maharashtra saw eminent speakers share their thoughts on the current fight against the pandemic, importance of data, and the road ahead for collaboration in integrating healthcare services in the country.

Dr. Altaf Lal, Senior Advisor for Global Health and Innovation, SunPharma said, “Data is gold in public health. You have good data; you have a lot of good gold. You have bad data, you have nothing. Only when you have real data, you can make real policy decisions. Maharashtra has to lead this effort and other states, have to convene similar strategies. Kudos to government of Maharashtra.”

Maharashtra has been one of the states that has consistently reported high number of positive cases, as well as deaths. Even as the second wave seems to have abated in most parts of the country, the state is still showing worrying numbers. But Maharashtra is reporting all data as is, says Dr. Salunke. The directive to this effect has come from the Chief Minister’s level. Dr Salunke said Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has said that no data should be hidden.

Dr. Salunke says, “He [Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray] said – Do not hide any death data, absolutely no hiding. Don’t hide number of cases, don’t hide death, don’t hide complications; there is no agenda to hide any data.”

Sanjeev Deshpande, Managing Director and CEO, NTT Data Business Solutions thinks that the fight against the virus is nowhere near over, and an integrated data platform could help in managing the pandemic better. He said, “Viruses, I don’t think it is going get over by end of December, it will continue to mutate – it is probably going to be there for three, four years. From that perspective, it is an urgent need to have an integrated data platform across the country put in place much sooner. It might take a few months to put it together, but I think we need to invest in it.”

Annaswamy Vaidheesh, former Chairman and Managing Director, GSK India thinks that the Maharashtra model of integration of data from private and government hospitals shows promises of a robust, integrated healthcare system in the country.

He said, “I think the way they made the integration of the system, where they captured – the private hospital, and government hospital — all data in one centre, and they knew exactly how many beds are there, where, and what oxygen, what medicine is required, now this is a very big start, for an integration of a good healthcare system.”

Dr. Trehan cautions that the virus will be around for sometime now, and vaccines are our best bet to flatten a likely third wave. He said, “If we can vaccinate, starting July, fifty lakh people a day, we can flatten the wave, or reduce the wave by 25 plus percent. If we can vaccinate, seventy lakhs plus people a day, we will be able to reduce the wave by more than fifty percent. If we can go to ninety lakhs, we will flatten the wave.”

Dr. Salunke agrees. He said, “If we do vaccinate at least 65-70 percent population by two doses throughout India, at least by December, things will be under our control.” Dr. Lal added to this, ”While we try to reach the 60-70 percent till December, of vaccine coverage, preventive controls will have to go hand in hand. Mask wearing has to be there. Physical distancing has to be there, handwashing has to be there.”

When asked to what would they consider as priority in the next five to six months, the members of the panel had some insightful suggestions. Dr. Altaf Lal said, “The Drug Controller General of India is a phenomenal institution. Elevate that to a Government of India Secretary level position. Similar to DBT, ICMR and CSIR. If you do that the processes, the functionalities, will improve significantly. Health of India will improve significantly.” Mr. Vaidheesh suggested using pneumococcal vaccine for the treatment of Covid. He said, “Please start seeing the PCV vaccine, the pneumococcal vaccine as an auxiliary vaccine which can prevent serious impact whenever Covid hits. It is all about pneumonia, it is all about lungs. For me this is one thing government should consider accelerating beyond the paediatric to the adults.”.  Mr. Deshpande concluded by saying, “We need to achieve patient care anywhere, any time. That is possible through only technology adoption and harnessing data. So, I think that should be the focus for the health ministers, both at Maharashtra as well as the Centre.”