Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar on Monday warned of action against veteran newscaster and actor S. Varadharajen under the Epidemic Diseases Act after the latter, in a video message, stressed the need for people to stay safe, citing the difficulty in finding a hospital bed for his friend, who had symptoms of COVID-19.
In the video clip, an emotional Mr. Varadharajen said that one of his friends developed severe breathing problems and fever on Sunday. Every hospital that his friend’s family contacted had said that there were no beds available. Despite reaching out to senior government officials, they couldn’t get him admitted to a hospital, he alleged.
Countering his claim, the Health Minister said that there were 75,000 beds across Tamil Nadu and 5,000 in Chennai alone. “We will take action against him under the Epidemic Diseases Act. He has given completely wrong information,” the Minister claimed.
“This is a pandemic — a crisis situation — and people are panicking. His claim that government and private hospitals do not have enough beds is wrong,” Mr. Vijayabaskar said.
Following this, the newscaster, in another message, said that he had sent the clip only to his friends, but someone had shared it with a wider audience. The government was handling the pandemic well, he added.
The Minister said that all one had to do if they had symptoms of the disease was go to a hospital. “There is no need to call them. It is the doctor’s decision as to how to treat the patients after taking into account their willingness for the same. Which government officer did Mr. Varadharajen contact,” he asked. “We have sufficient facilities. Anyone can make tall claims,” he added.
He reiterated that Tamil Nadu had a recovery rate of 56% for a disease which had no specific medicine or vaccine. “We have even managed to save near-death cases coming in from private hospitals. As of now, only six people are on oxygen support. We are also working with private hospitals to increase the number of beds being set aside by them to treat COVID-19 patients,” he said. There is a view among doctors that cases will go up, but the State is prepared to tackle the situation, he said.
Meanwhile, the Tamil Seidhi Vaasipaarlargal Sangam said the government must give up any plans for initiating action against the newscaster, as his intention had only been to ensure that people were aware of the seriousness of the situation.