Time of crisis brings out the best and the worst

A time of great crisis can bring out the best of some but the worst in many. The coronavirus or COVID-19 episode in Sri  Lanka showed this without any doubt. Some acted with self-sacrifice, dedication and a sense of common good but for many it was yet again individual salvation and greed. It started when the GMOA asked for a special allowance for doctors and medical staff to treat suspected cases of corona: An allowance!

By that time, we had not realised the real magnitude of the danger looming internationally and on the move to devour many human lives. But to ask for an allowance without giving priority to those patients suspected of being infected was something sub-human. And the GMOA got the flack it deserved from all and sundry. Social media was abuzz with outrage over the selfish and shameful conduct of those GMOA officials who had forgotten their oath to help the sick, corona or otherwise. The GMOA kept true to its pedigree of putting its privileges and perks at the cost of those who are sick and dying. It had done it umpteen times and had no qualms about it.   

Early celebrations 

We then rejoiced the recovery of the Chinese woman who received treatment from our healthcare. The Health Minister was seen hugging the woman and it was hailed as an instance of showing how efficient and reliable our medical and healthcare systems were, little realising that it was the tip but the iceberg was surely and steadily moving towards us. 

Later, we saw social media posts that invited most magnanimously our brothers and sisters who had gone beyond our shores in search of greener pastures to come back to their motherland. The posts said they were most welcome and they were not a burden to the motherland. But those apparently ‘charitable souls’ never bargained for what was to hit them when groups of Sri Lankans employed in Italy, Korea and other places started unloading themselves at the Bandaranaike International Airport. And yet again, we hailed the equipment we said was an invention of sons of our motherland and claimed we could deal with this even when China was struggling to keep a lid on the spread of the deadly virus. 

Education vs the lack of it 

The initial batch of students from the universities of Wuhan willingly subjected themselves to two weeks of quarantine procedures and at Diyatalawa. We praised the armed forces who were doing a selfless, and to be frank, a dedicated work with their own lives at risk. Many of the students from Wuhan were medical students and others were undergrads in Chinese universities. But the bottom line was that they were educated, disciplined and could understand the magnitude of the looming danger and their social responsibility in ensuring the virus did not hit Sri Lanka too, the way it did China by that time. 

Then came Korean and Italian employees who had realised Sri Lanka was the best place to be at this time as Sri Lanka had been identified as one of the leading safe havens in face of the COVID-19 threat. Yet, it took little time to realise they were not going to act in the manner Wuhan students did. Several factors such as education and social background could be the reasons for difference of response they showed in relation to their cooperation with the authorities upon landing at BIA. Their stubborn refusal to be quarantined and insistence on going home where they could go through ‘self-quarantining’ prevailed and they were released to the land of their own country, their homes, communities and families without being cleared of the risk of being carriers of this disease. 

They received the flack of outraged citizens who on social media went beyond all limits of ethical and decent conduct to their own brethren whom they themselves invited with both hands to return to the motherland. Not only were they criticised for the highhanded and haughty nature shown at the airport but even their personal lives, humble beginnings and their jobs became common knowledge in the public domain. The barrage of vituperative released on them saw no limits in criticising them for irresponsible behaviour as it became clear that most of the infections in Sri Lanka had come from those who came from Italy. 

The hoarding 

To add insult to injury, the fear of a total shutdown prompted millions of Sri Lankans, especially in the capitol and the towns, to go on a spree of panic buying that ensured many supermarkets ran dry of essentials in a matter of hours. The selfish, greedy and shameful manner in which the ‘haves’ and those who had credit cards emptied the racks meant that those segments of society who had a hand to mouth living based on their daily wages were left with nothing in case of a shortage. All the ‘charitable blabber’ and ‘self- righteous religiosity’ had no hold on the selfishness of the millions. 

I have a friend in Milano, Italy where dozens are dying daily and has been restricted to home for the last few days. Yet, he says people are not falling over each other to beat the other to hoard oneself with all that could be gulped down. We showed the depths we had fallen to; a spiritual poverty and ethical nudity despite all our bravado of 2,500 years of something. 

As I ink these words, the government extended the one-day shutdown till Thursday, obviously heeding the request of the many including the Bar Association and GMOA! Yes, the GMOA! For once, may be for the first time in my life, the GMOA acted apolitically and urged the authorities to halt all activities including work for at least a week. The GMOA which cried for an ‘allowance’ had at last brought itself to the reality that is looming large: an outbreak that our healthcare system is woefully inadequate to handle and an undisciplined and highly self-centred populace who never realises we could face this only as a collective. 

Resolute action 

The government initially seemed irresolute in deciding whether to switch off all activities before the situation was beyond control as it is now in Italy. Yet, every hour that passes by without resolute action exponentially increases the risk of more and more people contracting COVID-19. 

As stated earlier, the crisis had brought the best out of some of us like healthcare officers, airport staff and security personnel who work day and night exposing themselves to great risk. At the same time, it had shown how dark and ugly the interiors of others are; those who escaped quarantine as well as those who had no qualms of hoarding away all that is available to the entire community with many without means to buy cartsful of stuff once. Just think about the fact that all pharmacies are out of face masks but you hardly see anybody wearing a mask on the street! 

It is a crisis of an unprecedented nature. The entire civilised world is bracing itself with all vigour to face it collectively and in unity. Can we unite and get rid of the individualism that plagues us, may be genetically, at least at this very late hour? 

Or is it already too late?