Virudhunagar MP B. Manickam Tagore on Friday alleged that there was a shortage of doctors to fight COVID-19 in the district as at least 50 of them had been sent to Chennai.

His allegation comes a day after Madurai MP Su. Venkatesan complained of 50 ambulances from southern districts having been diverted to Chennai.

Mr. Tagore said the number of COVID-19 patients in Virudhunagar had increased three times in the last 10 days. “With the increasing number of patients, the district is facing shortage of doctors. We need to keep reserve strength of medical officers to meet any emergency situation also,” he added.

The district administration had invited applications to appoint medical officers on a temporary basis only because of the shortage of manpower, he said.

Cautioning that the number of patients would grow manifold in shorter duration, the Congress MP said all the doctors should be brought back to contain the situation before it went out of control.

Even when the district borders were sealed, the number of patients was on the rise at a faster pace.

He wondered why the State government was not ready to make use of the cost-effective Rapid Antigen Test equipment for quicker testing.

When the State government itself had admitted that 85% of the positive people were asymptomatic, it was more important to cover the targeted population at a faster pace, he felt. “Testing and tracking are important thumb rules to contain the spreading of the infection. But, the State Government is not ready to do it. Rapid Antigen Testing is manifold cheaper and testing can be completed within 30 minutes when compared to RT-PCR testing,” he added.

In a statement, he appealed to the Chief Minister, Edappadi K. Palaniswami, to give special attention to the southern districts where number of cases was increasing.