Covid-19
Pandemic
and
Various
Aspects
Related
To
lt
02.12.21
thank
the
Chair
for
giving
me
an
opportunity
to
speak in
this very important discussion on
COVID-19.
As
our
hon.
Speaker
had
mentioned
that
this
debate
should
be
used
to
showcase,
or
allow
us
to
give
an
example
of,
what
our
respective
States
are
doing in
this
situation
of
pandemic,
would
like
to
take
this
opportunity
to
slightly
elaborate
on
the
work
that has been done
by
the
State
of
Meghalaya.
Amidst
the
havoc caused
by
the
COVID-19
pandemic,
whereby global
economies
have
crumbled
and
are
now
slowly
on
the
path
of
recovery,
the
North-Eastern
State
of
Meghalaya also
bore
the
brunt
of
the
crisis. Being a
State
with a large indigenous
population
coupled
with a
resource-poor
setting,
the
challenges
have
been
unique
for
the
State
Administration.
This
had
called
for
a unique
intervention.
Under
the
leadership
of
our
Chief
Minister
and our Health Minister the entire State Government machinery
worked
together
in
full
force
and
was
able
to
turn
the
pandemic
crisis
into
an
opportunity
of
sorts,
especially
in
terms
of
building
and
strengthening
our
healthcare
infrastructure.
Since
the
start
of
the
pandemic, Meghalaya adopted
an
evidence-based
data
driven
approach
of
managing
the
pandemic,
guided majorly
by
the
problem-driven
interactive
adaptive
model.
During
wave
one
of
the
pandemic,
the
State's
community-centric
behavioural
change model,
the
BCM,
garnered appreciation
from
the
Union
Health
Ministry
which
was
later
adopted
nationwide
as
a
COVID-19
appropriate
behaviour.
A
collaborative
approach
was
adopted through
the
constitution
of
the
State
response
team
and
the
medical
expert
comprising
medical
professionals
and
public
committee
healthcare
experts
from
the
State
as
well
as
across
the
country.
In
the
second
wave,
Meghalaya
was
posed
with
a
new
set
of
challenges -
coVID-19
testing
and
vaccine
hesitancy. This led
to
an
increase
in
the
number
of
deaths
caused
by
COVID-19
and
a
high
case-fatality
ratio.
Therefore,
with
an
aim
to
save
people's
lives,
the
State
administration
along
with
the
team
of
private
and
public
medical
experts
formulated
a breakthrough
treatment
protocol,
known
as
the
step-up
treatment
protocol
based
on
the
biphasic
nature
of
COVID-19
virus.
This
was
recognised
by
the
ICMR
and
Lancet India Task Force for
managing
COVID-19
for
