This Police chief uses alternative therapy to contain Covid-19 in Mangaluru

Apart from the usual safety protocols, Vikash Kumar Vikash also introduced hot drinking water, along with ayurvedic and homoeopathic drugs to keep his frontline warriors healthy

While on duty in Buldhana District in interior Maharashtra during 2019 elections, a newly-recruited government official approached an IPS officer from Karnataka, asking whether he remembered interviewing her at Bengaluru in a mock interview before the final interview for UPSC’s Civil Services Examination. The rookie then reminded Vikash Kumar Vikash, now Mangaluru police commissioner, how mock interviews conducted by him and the team of civil servants in Bengaluru few years ago helped her to crack the UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) examinations.

“This is the biggest gift we receive when we see young people cracking the UPSC with our assistance and guidance,” he says. Vikash is a part of the group of civil servants from Karnataka state, led by Capt. Manivannan, IAS, which has been helping civil service aspirants achieve their goal by means of a free UPSC tutorials and guidance for the next generation. 

"There are no conditions, no bars and anyone can join these classes. Our only aim is to help people irrespective of their background,” say Vikash, a 41-year old Indian Police Service officer of 2004 batch.

 

UPSC is considered as one of the toughest exams to crack in the world, with hundreds of thousands of aspirants vying for just 800-900 positions each year. Every year lakhs of students prepare for these exams with the help of coaching classes and mock interviews. This group of mentoring officers tries to help those aspirants who need help from professionals who are already in service and understand what exactly is needed from a future officer. And it is these officers who are the frontline Covid warriors – putting their lives in danger on a daily basis.

Hailing from Munger in Bihar, Vikash says he has already seen the best and the worst times while policing in India. 

“Whether I am leading an anti-terror or anti-Naxal operations, I realised our biggest strength is our team and we have to look after each other,” he says.

In his latest position, Vikash, an alumnus of Delhi School of Economics, has a different enemy to fight--Covid-19. Landing in Mangaluru in coastal Karnataka during the peak of Corona pandemic, Vikash had to first make sure that none of his team members got infected by the Coronavirus. “We are the frontline warriors of Covid-19. Every day, our people have to go outside, man the city and its police stations. My first job was to make sure that the three police stations which were hit by Covid re-opens and we get back people to man them,” he said.

As a first step, Vikash made sure that all police stations were sanitised, and every visitor, from a junior officer to the seniormost, went through the mandatory Covid screening of temperature and oxygen level checks. 

 

"Every police station was provided with hot drinking water facility and staff was asked to drink only hot water. Proper social distancing was maintained. As a result, the city police had very minimal cases of Corona infection,” says he. 

Everthing helped matters--from face masks or additional immunity boosters in the form of local herbs, like Ayurveda and homeopathy medicines provided by local companies as CSR initiatives by Konkan Marines, Gopal Kamath & Co, and St George Homeopathy.

These immunity boosters were also provided to the staff and their families. Regular Covid testing of each of the 4,000 strong staff was conducted so as to detect the infections early.

As and when any staff was infected with the Corona virus, not only the official was quarantined, but their family members were also isolated and provided with full medical care.

“After all we are all like a family. We have to fight the virus together and our low numbers show that we are winning the war against Corona,” says he.