1. Shri Dilip Pael introduced Dr. Rajendra Bharud to the participants and mentioned his previous postings and several awards that he had won. He specifically mentioned the recognition that Dr Bharud was receiving presently for his competent handling of the COVID situation in the district of Nandurbar in Maharashtra as the District Collector. He mentioned that Dr Bharud was a proud adivasi who rose to become an IAS from very humble beginnings, and had authored a book in Marathi ‘Sapnon ke Udaan’.Shri Patel invited Dr. Raghunath Bhoye, Civil Surgeon, Nandurbar, to speak about the impact that Dr. Bharu’s initiatives made in the district in handling the COVID crisis.
Dr. Bhoye spoke about how the district could have never done what it managed to do, had it not been for the efforts of the DC, Dr. Bharud. He mentioned how the DC dealt with the shortage of beds and transformed an under-construction building (for a women’s hospital that had been under construction since the past 6-7 years) to a functional COVID facility in only a month’s time. He spoke about how the DC managed to get the budget for two oxygen plants, whereas earlier, oxygen had to be brought from other districts.
With the oxygen plants, more number of oxygen concentrators and cylinders, the district faced no shortage of oxygen in the second wave of COVID, all thanks to the planning by Dr. Bharud. To prepare for the 3rd wave, they are now planning to build a liquid oxygen plant. The DC engaged in hands-on work, always visiting hospitals, assessing the ground situation and being available to the people. He introduced the concept of ‘oxygen nurses’ where one nurse was appointed only to closely monitor the SpO2 levels for a group of 50 patients. Presently, Nandurbar is reporting daily cases in single digits, the lowest in Maharashtra.
Dr. Bharud spoke about his experience as the DC of Nandurbar. He said that his objective was simple- to fulfill his responsibilities for his district, just like the Chief Minister is responsible for the State and the Prime Minister for the country. Rather than pointing fingers, he thought it best to do his job well. The praise that he got was just the byproduct of good team work. He mentioned how not a single time he scolded or shouted at anyone in his team- in fact, he always motivated his officers. He mentioned how genuine and regular appreciation touches the heart of the people working in a team.
Nandurbar is a tribal dominated district with poor and illiterate population. It shares its borders with Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. However, he was a native and knew what people needed; this really helped him.
He mentioned how bureaucrats are always competing with each other for plush postings and also appease politicians for the same. He, instead, said that he should be given the worst of postings, but the freedom to work, explore and imagine. No matter where one is, if the work is done with passion, dedication and teamwork and what is satisfying to one’s heart, a lot can be achieved.
He explained how the district did not have any big hospital or proper medical facilities. There was a great shortage of MD doctors, both government and private. It did not have its own oxygen supply, there was shortage of beds and in general, very poor health infrastructure. There was also the issue of internet as it was a backward and hilly area with a lot of illiteracy.
The SoP issued by him first and foremost focused on a proper control room. A district website was created with a robust dashboard which gave out critical information like the location of ambulances, status of vacant beds, vaccination information, COVID test results, and more. For illiterate people, phone numbers and helplines were created that were fully functional.
The administration did not allow any home isolation except for the handicapped and the very old- for the others there was compulsory institutional quarantine as it was necessary due to the level of illiteracy and poverty. The people were also very shy and apprehensive about undergoing the tests and were reluctant to come to the testing centres. The solution for this was to form teams that went to people with symptoms and took samples. The test results were available within 24 hours and were displayed and available on the website.
The issue of manpower was dealt with by more contractual manpower and a greater number of doctors were also engaged. As mentioned earlier, the oxygen plants were set up, and more oxygen concentrators and cylinders were brought. He said that he had always focused more on the oxygen part for dealing with the pandemic, and that was the reason for creating the dedicated oxygen nurses as well. He explained how in collaboration with the railways, 378 beds were created in the coaches and mechanism was created to keep the temperature of the coach relatively cool in the severe heat. This facility was important so that people stayed in the institutional areas and did not mix with other people back home.
One has to remember that these are poor people who do not have the option of isolation at home as they live in very small houses or huts. Awareness levels of COVID protocol is also very low. The women were hesitant to be in institutions along with men, so special facilities were created for women in every block. There were special buildings for them and all the staff was inducted according to the needs of the females. Acceptability is a big factor in any initiative, and to be successful, therefore, all initiatives have to be public centric.
There was a huge fear among the tribals regarding vaccinations and many rumours were doing the rounds. They could not register themselves on the CoWIN app in any case because of low internet and lack of availability of mobiles. There were multiple issues involved. The administration took the help of the NGOs, the school teachers, the Anganwadi and Asha workers and carried out a series of convincing camps for the vaccine in every village. The convincing was done by a gang of such people. So far, more than 3 lakh in the district have now been vaccinated, all thanks to teamwork.
There was also the issue of how would people come to the vaccination centres. A local, respected MLA was requested to announce that every person coming for vaccination would get 1 kg of rice or sugar. This helped in people getting some incentive to come for vaccination. Transport was an issue so the help of school buses was taken to bring people from the remote areas to the vaccination centres. Thus, a 360 degrees approach was adopted.
He said that as a professional, it was his duty to perform the task allotted to him by the government to the best of his abilities. He mentioned how he had faced a series of challenges in his life, beginning with the death of his father while he was still in his mother’s womb. His family was so poor that they could not even take a single photograph of his father before he passed away. His parents never went to school, and sold liquor made from mahua flowers. Now, being an IAs, he is very grateful to the opportunities given to him, and believes that humility is so very essential in the pursuit of excellence.
All the participants greatly appreciated the presentation made by Dr Bharud and applauded him for his work.It was said that even if 15% of the IAS became like him, the country would be rid of many ills. His case was an example of what a DC can achieve if he really wants to do good work. His work should be showcased in LBSNAA and the police training academy.
Shri Dilip Patel thanked Dr. Bharud and requested him to attend the CoE meetings whenever possible for him. Shri Patel told all the participants that they could contact ICCfG if they wanted to organize ICCfG’s signature training module in ethics in public service for their respective organisations and teams. ICCfG now offers the course online as well, responding to the pandemic situation.
In his closing remarks, Shri Prabhat Kumar said that he was thankful to each one of the participants for attending the webinar. The community of ethics was a spontaneous expression of the desire of many of us to bring the civil services closer to the people. In this, we have to be guided by Gandhi’s Talisman. There will be many such efforts like this Community that will work for the goal of Naitik Bharat.
He was grateful to Shri Balvinder Kumar and all those who shared their profound thoughts during the webinar. He promised that all of us will work on the ideas propounded during the webinar, including the suggestions given by Shri Balvinder Kumar.
He was grateful to Dr. Rajendra Bharud who said that he was responsible for his district, and pointed the three essential attributes of the civil services: passion, dedication and teamwork. The power of genuine appreciation of other people was also one of the things pointed out by him. He is a living example of humility.
Shri Dilip Patel thanked all the participants for attending the webinar and requested them to keep inspiring us so that the CoE can continue to expand. He said that if any senior member were willing to take up the reins of the next webinar of the CoE, it would be nice. Shri Prabhat Kumar added that we are also looking for more stories to be shared in the webinars.
