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Vol. XXXI No. 3, May 16-31, 2021
Digital divide highlights the importance of an integrated, multi-channel covid protocol
by Our Special Correspondent
Meet Selvi. She’s more than 60 years old and works as a live-in help for a family in Thiruvanmiyur. She has an old-school Nokia phone with no internet connectivity; she doesn’t surf the web or participate on social media websites. When Selvi decided to get the covid vaccine, she didn’t register on the CoWIN app; she directly went to the nearest center, registered in person and received the jab on the same day. This is exactly what she would do, she says, in a medical emergency as well – reach out to the nearest public health center for help.
It is citizens like Selvi who are left at a disadvantage by the current reliance on digital media to rally pandemic resources. As covid patients struggle to procure care in resource-starved cities across the country, many are using social media to crowdsource tip-offs that guide people to available hospital beds, vaccines or medicines. This digital network is thriving in Chennai, too – a quick search generates thousands of posts from good samaritans, containing key information and contact numbers. While these efforts speak well of the city’s community spirit, such a system disrupts the flow of medical resources, granting the digitally privileged an undue advantage.
The statistics give proof of the problem – a 2019 report from the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) pegs the country’s internet penetration at merely 40 per cent. As for Tamil Nadu, a Telecom Regulation Authority of India (TRAI) report published earlier this year says that 93 out of every 100 people have internet access in the state’s urban areas, but the number drops to just 40 in rural places. It wouldn’t be too far off the mark to surmise that the divide is wider when it comes to social media usage – after all, sites like Twitter are overwhelmingly urban and dominated by English-speaking patrons. It’s also a gamified system that rewards the well-networked: chances of a plea for help getting noticed by the right person are much higher if an influential profile gets involved. So, even if Selvi upgrades to a smartphone and begins to use social media, she still needs to have a certain level of reach and clout to receive the help she needs on time.
The second problem with crowdsourced digital drives is that of unreliable information. The system simply doesn’t have a mechanism to filter out stale or misleading data, adding confusion to the crisis. For instance, a message currently doing the rounds on What’s App and Twitter asks people to contact a private number to procure a bed at the new medical facilities installed at the Chennai Trade Center; however, protocol requires patients to register themselves through the 104 medical helpline before the Corporation assigns a bed.
The third, equally grave issue is that of fraud. The digital system exposes the vulnerable to scammers looking to profit from the crisis. A common racket involves the conman demanding an advance payment for the required oxygen cylinder or medicine, which never appears. Digital networks are also leveraged by profiteers looking to sell scarce medications at exorbitant rates. According to a news report, a Chennai resident was forced to shell out upwards of a lakh for a single vial of the drug Tocilizumabon. Other stories have emerged too, of people falling for fake Remdesivir vials sold through social media.
To its credit, the Tamil Nadu administration moved fairly quickly to establish an official social media channel. The 104 medical helpline opened its own Twitter account @104_GoTN and registers patient requests through the hashtag #BedsforTN. It has received positive feedback from many who have availed of their help – people report quick response times and most importantly, clarity of information and guidance. It’s an efficient service that deserves to be extended to people who live outside the social media bubble, too.
The Health Department has already established a Unified Command Center (UCC) which is working towards a centralized approach to covid control in the state. Given the high volume of traffic on the 104 medical helpline, it is felt that the people will be better served through a supplemental, local helpline that is easily accessible by people of every ward. After all, people are largely turning to social networks only when the official helplines are too slow or unreachable.
Unlinking helpline processes from digital dependency will allow a strategic, egalitarian allocation of scarce medical resources in these difficult times. Digital capabilities should help establish an open system, not wall-off essential services in a society where most still remain unconnected to the interweb.
