Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Monday, has accused the government of “totally failing to control and contain the spread of the coronavirus” in the twin cities and across the State in light of the spike in cases and deaths. “People have lost faith in this government especially after 70 government doctors had tested positive. If this is the plight of frontline healthcare personnel, we can imagine the common man’s condition,” said party president Bandi Sanjay.
Addressing the media through digital mode from the party office, he demanded that the government explain why so many doctors had tested positive and claimed that the junior doctors and interns are being made to treat patients without any protective equipment like kits, masks or santizers.
“What is the point of restricting PPE kits to those treating ICU patients alone? It should be made available to doctors and paramedical staff in all wards. Testing should be taken up extensively for all doctors and medical staff and they should be provided with alternate accommodation because of the danger of their families being infected,” he said.
Delayed tests
The BJP leader questioned the government’s adamant stance in not taking up testing in large scale when other States were doing it. “If tests are increased people can seek medical help as soon as they are tested positive. Now, they are arriving late for clinical help and this is causing more deaths. Doctors too are unable to take adequate precautions beforehand not being aware about the patient’s condition,” he observed.
Mr. Sanjay claimed that the TS government had conducted just 35,000 tests or just 366 tests a day when various accredited labs had the capacity to do more than double the number of tests. “The Centre is providing all the funds for COVID-19 treatment and the government here should release a white paper on how many tests have been done, how many safety kits were provided and how many masks were provided to doctors and other health workers,” he said.
Complete profile
When all other States are providing complete profile of the number of patients under treatment, tested, dead or positive in the daily health bulletin, the TS government was involved in obfuscation of facts and figures, he charged and wondered if the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines stated that tests should not done or the dead should not be counted.
Paying homage to the electronic media reporter who had succumbed to the virus, the BJP chief wanted the government to provide free healthcare to all journalists as well as testing since they too are ‘Corona Warriors’.