CHENNAI: Chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami must take over the health ministry for proper integration of different departments in the fight against Covid-19 in Tamil Nadu, said DMK president M K Stalin on Saturday.
In a statement, Stalin said people should not die due to the internal politics in the ruling AIADMK.
He said the state government that replaced health secretary Beela Rajesh with J Radhakrishnan on Friday should have removed health minister C Vijaya Baskar too. “There are several corruption accusations against him. Also, he has failed to prevent the spread of the virus in the state,” Stalin said.
He said though the government was claiming that steps had been taken to prevent the virus spread, the number of positive cases was increasing. “In Chennai, the number of cases is increasing and now people from other districts are scared when they hear the name of Chennai,” said Stalin.
The DMK chief said there was no proper coordination among different departments in preventing the spread of the virus.
He said the government was trying to hide the Covid-19 death count. “There are instances of people dying of Covid-19 but in the death certificate, it is mentioned as negative for the virus. There are several media reports, with proper proof, about some Covid-19 deaths not being recorded by the government.”
He said a nurse had died in Chennai’s Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital some days ago. “In the case sheet, it was mentioned that she had tested positive for Covid-19. But in the death certificate, it is mentioned as negative. When the family members raised this, there was no proper answer from the authorities,” said Stalin.
Newspapers reported that that there were differences between the health department and Chennai Corporation on the number of Covid-19 deaths. “An 11-member committee was set up to check the differences, and the transfer of Beela Rajesh happened only after that issue came to the public knowledge.”
He said there was no transparency. “Different ministers and officials were speaking differently about the disease,” said Stalin.
The DMK president raised several questions about who oversees the decisions taken by the health ministry.
In a statement, Stalin said people should not die due to the internal politics in the ruling AIADMK.
He said the state government that replaced health secretary Beela Rajesh with J Radhakrishnan on Friday should have removed health minister C Vijaya Baskar too. “There are several corruption accusations against him. Also, he has failed to prevent the spread of the virus in the state,” Stalin said.
He said though the government was claiming that steps had been taken to prevent the virus spread, the number of positive cases was increasing. “In Chennai, the number of cases is increasing and now people from other districts are scared when they hear the name of Chennai,” said Stalin.
The DMK chief said there was no proper coordination among different departments in preventing the spread of the virus.
He said the government was trying to hide the Covid-19 death count. “There are instances of people dying of Covid-19 but in the death certificate, it is mentioned as negative for the virus. There are several media reports, with proper proof, about some Covid-19 deaths not being recorded by the government.”
He said a nurse had died in Chennai’s Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital some days ago. “In the case sheet, it was mentioned that she had tested positive for Covid-19. But in the death certificate, it is mentioned as negative. When the family members raised this, there was no proper answer from the authorities,” said Stalin.
Newspapers reported that that there were differences between the health department and Chennai Corporation on the number of Covid-19 deaths. “An 11-member committee was set up to check the differences, and the transfer of Beela Rajesh happened only after that issue came to the public knowledge.”
He said there was no transparency. “Different ministers and officials were speaking differently about the disease,” said Stalin.
The DMK president raised several questions about who oversees the decisions taken by the health ministry.
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