Trace, test, treat

In Maharashtra, Health Minister Rajesh Tope is focusing on a three-pronged plan to contain the crisis

- DNYANESH JATHAR

WHEN THE GOING gets tough, the tough get going. Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope knows this very well. Despite facing a medical emergency on the family front—his mother has been in intensive care for more than six weeks now—Tope has been working tirelessly to contain the Covid-19 outbreak in the state.

A senior Nationalist Congress Party leader, Tope was a bit surprised when he was asked to take charge of Maharashtra’s health ministry last year. An engineer by training, Tope was minister of higher and technical education in the Congress-NCP government that was in power from 2009 to 2014. Never one to shy away from challenges, he is now on the ball as health minister.

He was the first Maharashtra politician to suggest a statewide lockdown to fight the contagion. His concern was that Maharashtra could become India’s Covid-19 epicenter as Mumbai was the commercial capital of the country. “I have asked the health department to focus on three Ts— tracing, testing and treatment,” Tope told THE WEEK. “Corona spreads very fast, but thankfully the mortality rate is just around 2.5 per cent. Social distancing was one of the most important measures that we initiated early enough by closing schools and postponing exams. Finally, we imposed curfew.”