Medicine Girl

Getting a vaccine shot in Pune, India is akin to extreme sports. Almost ! Coz you are trying to avoid getting killed while aiming for the prize- literally the gift of life and hope, this Vaccine.  Every excursion out of your home is like going on a mission, given the horrible system of affairs in Pune today  ! Live blogging this to kill time as I wait in line here.   It’s my fourth attempt to get the 2nd dose for my aged parents (75yrs+) today. The first time we were turned back after being in line for 3 + hours as we were on day 45 after dose 1.  Apparently some random new rule here in this centre  says 2nd can be only on Or after Day50 . I inquired around and learnt I can go after Day45. That (Second ) time we were sent back again after being in line for couple hours coz only 100 lucky people can get the vaccine in a day ! Rest can go home. Third time all centres in the vicinity ran out of vaccines.  Given my proximity to the problem from a professional perspective, I had t

Exactly a year ago, I had journaled1 my first brush with the ominous COVID-19 virus, traveling back home to Pune-India from the United States during a pandemic that was still in its nascent stages. As a past practitioner of medicine primarily and an inquisitive business system analyst by profession, I remember being equally parts curious and nervous while comparing the stark contrast in the administrative pandemic response & surprisingly common public apathy across both countries. The pandemic shone a bright spotlight on some blind spots in healthcare systems across countries.  I nervously agreed with everyone who predicted an impending public health disaster given India’s weak & under-resourced healthcare infrastructure. A year later, with its astonishingly low case positivity & COVID-19 related mortality as compared to some star healthcare systems abroad, India (pleasantly) proved many of us wrong.  With a population of 1.3 billion people that is 4x that of the United Sta