Meghalaya Former CM gets COVID jab, says self regulation is mantra to overcome pandemic

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaMay 1, 2021

Leader of Opposition and former Chief Minister Mukul Sangma on Saturday appealed to all citizens who are eligible to get themselves vaccinated, even as he asserted the importance of self regulation to prevent spread of the COVID-19.

“Vaccination of all concerns who are eligible is a must. I would like to urge upon all our citizens of the state who are eligible to please go and take your vaccination and follow the second vaccination,” Sangma said.

The former chief minister along with wife Dikkanchi D Shira, who is also sitting MLA of Mahendraganj received their first dose of vaccination at the Shillong civil hospital here.

According to him, vaccination will enable people to at least insulate themselves from the likelihood of infection and even in the event of infection, the severity with which the disease will manifest itself will be reduced.

Stating that the fight is against an unseen enemy, Sangma said in addition to other stringent measures and protocols put in place by the authorities to arrest the transmission chain, there is need for everybody to have self regulation.

 “Self regulation is the only answer which is available at this juncture with the quantum of challenges that has been seen across the country as the whole health sector is over stressed, the infrastructures are all stressed…we are seeing how far we can cope with the challenges associated with the increasing number of cases that is being reported on a daily basis,” he added.

Asked, the Leader of Opposition said it is a matter of concern the kind of challenges that are associated in dealing with the pandemic as it is a very highly infectious virus.

“COVID-19 is very highly infectious and the issue of mutation, the first double mutation and the triple mutation, virus is bound to mutated and we have to be always conscious of what is going to unfold if we reconnect with the history, if we look at all the past pandemics, then we should be knowing what is coming and based on that how we  actually prepare ourselves to prevent further surge that is part and parcel of the management plan which is available with both Union government and the state government,” he said.

Referring to mock drills and practice of having false fire alarms in hotels to see whether everything is in order, Sangma asserted by saying, “Having notified this pandemic as national disaster there must be mock drills besides auditing of the wherewithals whether they are enough for us to really deal with these challenges of the pandemic whether we are actually able to respond in the event of such surge.”

Stating that the state government has not been able to prioritize the pandemic, Sangma however said “there is no space to blame games anymore. Therefore, self regulation and participation of every individual (in the fight) as a responsible citizen is the only mantra.”