The Second Wave: A Reality Check

The Coronavirus has taken over 3,200,000 lives worldwide, over 216,000 in India alone. It has been more than a year, and the wrath of the pandemic is only getting stronger, especially in India. The second wave has shaken India to its core. Indians are dying waiting for hospital beds, for ventilators and for oxygen. The rich and poor suffer alike. India is literally struggling to breathe.

Today, India needs its citizens to step up, help all those they can and help themselves. Following health protocols and helping contain the spread is vital. I urge everyone to wear a mask, and to not venture out unless necessary and maintain social distancing. To test as often as possible, and vaccinate when it is your turn.

At SpiceHealth, we are trying to do our part to help. In addition to a lack of medical facilities in the country, people are struggling to get tested. Most labs are refusing bookings or delaying delivering reports for 3-4 days, and in some cases, even a week.

This is harmful and on multiple levels. A person who is Covid positive may spread the virus to thousands in the long span of waiting for their report. A symptomatic and critical patient may not have access to medical care without a positive RT-PCR report. People are dying while waiting for their reports.

India needs to ramp up its testing capacity. SpiceHealth has set up numerous labs around the country and collection centres across Delhi and Mumbai to facilitate quick and easy RT-PCR tests. To help contain the spread of the virus, SpiceHealth labs provide test results within 24 hours. Additionally, during the second wave, we have expanded its presence to three additional cities in Maharashtra. Over 15 SpiceHealth mobile labs are now functional across Delhi, Maharashtra, Kerala and Uttarakhand.

Besides this, we have set up walk-in RT-PCR testing laboratories in Delhi, Haryana and Maharashtra. As the country reels under a surge in Covid cases, labs struggle to keep up with the demand and home collection of samples becoming a huge challenge, Spicehealth’s walk-in RT-PCR testing facility at multiple locations across Delhi, Haryana and Maharashtra aims to address these issues.

To ease the shortage of oxygen in the country, SpiceHealth is also working to provide oxygen concentrators and BiPaP devices to governments, corporates and individuals at a rapid pace. As on May 5, SpiceJet, has airlifted more than 9,950 oxygen concentrators from the USA, Hong Kong, Singapore and China. These oxygen concentrators have been ordered by SpiceHealth and other organizations. SpiceHealth has been working actively with state governments and hospitals across the country to address the issue of acute shortage of oxygen.

The second wave of the virus is far deadlier than the first. The possibility of a third and a fourth wave linger. During this time, Indians need to work collectively as One Nation, One India.

The public and private sectors need to work hand-in-hand to ramp up facilities, provide medical support, test vigorously, vaccinate quickly and support each other. Together, we can win this war.