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During these trying times when the industry is heavily affected with economical issues came up the pandemic called Covid 19 and disrupted the industry completely. We at Industrial Automation Magazine have taken an initiative to bring the industry together and share their viewpoints so that others reading can take measures accordingly to have minimal damage.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in interviews are personal, not necessarily of the organisations represented.
Dr Thirumurugan S V M is 3D Health Care Consultant and Orator, engaged in Clinical
Research. With a background in dentistry, he has master’s degrees in pharmaceutical
drugs, medical devices and nano medicine. He is a Key Innovative Associate Member of
3D printing, and 3D Printing World Community Club, India.
Absolutely. This Coronavirus or Covid-19 pandemic outbreak has been reported in 197
countries and it came as a clear surprise following other past pandemics across the world
like SARS in 2003. This is a good example of the popular Butterfly Effect: Someone in the
Chinese Wuhan province ate or came in contact with the bodily fluids of an animal in the
wet market (bat or sea animal or pangolin which is still unclear) and got exposed to this
virus and the whole world is having to handle this disease spreading and people are dying
every day. It is a zoonotic disease which spread from animal to human and has nearly 500
different strains. It always takes time to realise the severity of a disease spread, if and how
it intensifies along with the symptoms and effects. By the time it takes a government to
create awareness and prepare to face the challenge, the death count has increased from a
few tens to thousands.
This pandemic has undoubtedly created a global economic impact. It will take a lot of time
to bring it back to normal. Just like a spider web, it affects each and every sector including
production and supply chains, automotive, travel and tourism, healthcare and other retail
industries – the degree of impact is massive. The major issue is the workforce, which is the
heart of everything. Banking and finance sectors definitely take a long time to restructure
themselves, hopefully to handle such a global change in a better way later.
We need to discuss the topic of a pandemic only after a government fails to take measures
in preventing a disease from spreading in the beginning. Pandemics occur after breaking
through the endemic phase (a disease condition in particular people or certain region) and
epidemic phase (a disease condition in a widespread community). If proper prevention is
planned at the endemic community level, then no disease will become epidemic or
pandemic in future.
No country will be completely ready for a pandemic like this. Let us see how few countries
have prepared themselves for this outbreak and where India stands out.
China
We all know China has the greatest number of cases reported and the same is true for the
number of deaths. China has constructed a 1600 bed and 1000 bed hospital in just a week
to treat their Coronavirus patients. Every week the country churned out 1.6 million
diagnostic test kits which deliver results in one day. Robots were used to treat the patients.
It was unbelievable to know how they pulled this off and it will be a very steep challenge
for lot of developed and developing countries.
Italy
Italy stands 2nd globally as per the Health care Access and Quality Index (HAQ). Italy
reported more positive cases and spread became exponential after lot of people travelled a
day before to their native towns to avoid lockdown. Even though Italy has superior
healthcare infrastructure, with all the possible facilities, they were not able to control the
spread.
India
India stands 145th position among 195 countries. There was a Janata Curfew suggested by
the central government and citizens were asked to stay indoors for the whole day. After 5
pm they were further asked to give respect to Healthcare professionals and sanitation
workers by clapping from their home balcony or in front of their home. But people
marched across the streets and made noises oblivious to why they were asked to stay inside
the homes. In another case, our fellow citizens tried to leave the city yesterday through
buses and trains after the government-imposed Section 144 across the country. There is not
enough awareness among our people. State government were not able to manage the
crowd and to arrange a safe journey for everyone without testing their health status. This
incident will create another havoc to a wider community. We do not have the facility or the
trained manpower to manage this pandemic. To provide an insight, India has:
?0.5 hospital beds per 1,000 people
?1 quarantine bed per 36,000 people
?1 isolation bed per 84,000 people
?1 doctor per 11,600 patients, and
?80-85% of essential medical devices like ICU, ventilators and diagnostic devices are imported. We have less than 1,00,000 diagnostic kits.
There is insufficient national stock or production of hand sanitizers, facial masks and other
PPE’s for the general public and also for the doctors and caregivers.
In order to prepare a government to handle a pandemic like this, there should be proper
communication between countries. Awareness is the key which helps in the prevention of
any disease. There should be proper diagnostic and hospital facilities complying with
WHO standards for each country. Hotels and other big centres can be taken in to
consideration to isolate and treat people, if there is not sufficient bed space. Whatever
measures a government takes, it is up to the citizens to execute it. Government should
arrange for its citizens to obtain their necessities. Strict action must be taken towards those
who disobey the order.
Thermal scanners can be more accurate, if they meet some minimum specifications. But
due to the environment of panic in the country, not only are there insufficient devices, but
unreliable ones and problems of improper use. Even the existing ones which costs less than
Rs 3000 has been increased to more than Rs 10000. This has led to a general derision of
these devices as being finicky and a bad option. Due to a lack of regulatory framework for
lasers and their construction in India, all laser-based thermal scanners (which are of greater
accuracy) are imported. With a constrained supply-chain due to lockdowns in many
countries, crucial screening points may not get enough devices in time – this is apart from
the high costs. These devices are certainly effective, even with random screening, it is
possible to identify and isolate those with high temperature, and thereby reduce the
number of people who need to be taken to a specialised testing facility. We can solve the
problem today, by reducing the flow of people across the country, exercise patience at
waiting areas, maintain distance between us, etc., and help the government contain the
pandemic. Waiting for the thermal scanners or complaining about the lack of them and the
regulations that are not there will not help the situation today.
We can only wait and watch. From my colleagues in various sectors, there has already
been an increasing shift to WFH mainly due to unproductively long commutes from homes
to office, and the increasingly digital nature of the work for most. Those sectors involving
touch labour will continue to need their employees to “come to work”, and these are the
sectors greatly hit today by the pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns. Businesses have
traditionally required in-person meetings to seal deals, to perform due-diligence and for
inspections. These were slowly transitioning to remote/tele-presence, but today it is the
only way. Whether people will revert to physical in-person interactions or not depends on
the duration for which this situation lasts, and the benefits they see. Most of the cities in
India have already been crippled by lot of people moving in for work. WFH should be
executed and assessed for the productivity and convenience of work. If there is a
positivity, companies can surely adapt this as it saves lot of time and money for the
organisation and individual along with improvisation in the worldly environment.
No Comment
Communication: Within a country, between countries, within government agencies
? Frameworks: How to engage private sector to response in times of need, how to
engage volunteers from the public to manage their communities.
? Education: Awareness and literacy are lacking, education alone can solve this
? Inertia in reaction, and denial need to be taken out of the equation. If there is a
travel advisory to not travel, government and related agencies should have no hesitation in
closing its borders.
? Domestic healthcare and medical device manufacturing need to be developed. Only
if we can serve our own needs can we support more people coming in (business, tourism,
etc.) And in global lockdowns, each country needs to have some level of self-sufficiency
? When this situation ends, we will have discovered ingenious ways to overcome
problems. These lessons learned need to be documented and absorbed into emergency
response procedures, imbibed into best practices and communicated all over the country, if
not internationally.
#April 2020 Covid Special
To say the world is passing through trying times is to state the obvious. Also evident is the fact that for too long the world has been ignoring the warning signs of environmental degradation fuelled by human excesses and greed. But this is no time for ifs and buts, nor recrimination. Instead, the crisis should be used as an opportunity to make the required course correction to make the world a safer place for all living beings, and the ecological balance, restored.
Industrial Automation invited a cross section of industry leaders to offer their views and possible course of action as a way forward from this situation, even as governments across the world and the people are trying to make sense from the still evolving scenario.
To read the full cover story Please click here
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