Public participation, which formed the core strength of the model, led to a decline in Madhya Pradesh’s daily Covid-19 cases, the state government has said.
The decline in daily cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Madhya Pradesh can be attributed to public participation, which formed the core strength of the “Madhya Pradesh corona control model,” the state government has said.
“Within a few days of the deadly second wave of Covid-19, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan began working on his strategy to prevent the spread of the viral disease,” the Madhya Pradesh government noted, adding that even on a day when Covid-19 cases were at their maximum, the number peaked at 13,700.
Caseload-wise, it said, Madhya Pradesh was way down nationally, from seven to 15. This is what has come to be known as the “Madhya Pradesh corona control model,” it said.
Elaborating the “Madhya Pradesh model” with statistics, the government said that at one point, the state was at seventh place in terms of active Covid-19 cases. However, after 38 days, on May 29, Madhya Pradesh found itself way down at 19th place. “There is a constant dip in the positivity rate from the first week of May. In 52 districts, 375 Covid Care Centres (CCC) were set up to help citizens,” the Madhya Pradesh government said.
Noting that Shivraj Singh Chouhan constituted crisis management committees as the infection “raised its ugly head,” the release stated that apart from administrative officials, the committees also had leaders from all political parties, social activists and prominent persons. These committees were entrusted with implementing “corona curfew,” identifying and tracing infected persons, and also helped in providing medical aid, mask distribution and screening through door-to-door visits. They were also given the task of distribution of free food grains for five months, the government said.
The government further said that the model also stands out for the chief minister’s constant interaction with various sections of the society and sustained public campaign to emphasise wearing of a mask and social distancing. As a result, it said, the Covid-19 recovery rate rose to 95% on Monday.
On the second wave of the pandemic, the government noted how the chief minister and the state-level committees kept reviewing corona control measures on a daily basis as soon as the wave “began to rage.” In this period, the chief minister’s regular interaction with area-wise and village committees served twin purposes: it enabled constant feedback from the ground level, and ensured the chief minister could give his guidance depending on the situation in various areas.
The government also thanked a “strong” team of more than 125,000 volunteers, who, it said, reached out to Covid-19 positive persons across the state, and created awareness towards those not infected to follow Covid-19 appropriate behaviour. Also providing impetus to the “Madhya Pradesh model” were an uninterrupted supply of oxygen, hospitals and injections, it said.
For children orphaned during this time, the government said it has reached out to them with a slew of measures to help them all through their life. These include a pension of ₹5,000 per month, taking care of their education expenses. Also, relatives of government employees, who lost their lives due to the pandemic, would be provided jobs on compassionate grounds.
