A three-member Central team on Sunday visited Bihar to assess the COVID-19 situation. Bihar, of late, has been witnessing an alarming rise in the number of patients.
The team led by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare department Joint Secretary Luv Agrawal comprises Dr. S.K. Singh of the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC) and Dr. Niraj Nischal from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi.
The team is likely to visit one containment zone in Patna to assess the ground realities of the government’s preparedness to prevent the disease.
89 containment zones
More than 89 containment zones have been created in Patna alone to prevent the spread of the disease.
Before leaving for Delhi on Monday evening, the team is scheduled to meet the Health Minister and officials.
Videos highlighting the pathetic condition at the government-run hospitals have regularly been circulating on social media.
In some videos, relatives of patients are heard complaining about the absence of doctors and nurses and their negligence in the designated hospitals.
“Though vacant beds are available, COVID-19 patients are being refused admission as doctors and nurses are reluctant to treat them,” a lady is seen saying in one video which went viral two days back.
Relatives also rue that the hospital authorities do not hand over the bodies to them before dark for cremation.
Long wait for bodies
“The long wait to take the bodies to the cremation ground is very painful…they handed over the body of my elder brother, who was admitted to the Patna AIIMS a few days back, only after dusk fell and just one person accompanied the family members to the cremation ground where they handed over the body to take it to the funeral pyre,” alleged Vijay Mishra, a Delhi-based journalist over phone.
“I just want to ask the health authorities in Patna and the Health Minister, ‘Does corona virus not travel in dark or when dusk falls’?”
In a hospital in Katihar district, a patient reportedly died on Saturday after the hospital staff had failed to provide him with an oxygen cylinder.
For the last one week, nearly a 1,000 cases are being reported in Bihar everyday.
Bihar, so far, has reported 24,967 positive cases with 177 deaths. The number of recovered persons so far has been 15,771 with a recovery rate of 63.17%, said the Health department bulletin.
The Opposition parties have lashed out at the ruling NDA and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for not taking steps to control the spread and “indulging in the preparation for the Assembly elections”.
On Sunday, imprisoned Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad tweeted that the situation is ‘explosive’.
“The situation is pitiful, anarchic and explosive. The health system has collapsed…the government has to become a falcon in containing the virus but the JD(U) leaders have become vultures by organising virtual rallies …Nitish Kumar has not come out of his residence even for four times in the last four months,” tweeted Mr. Prasad.
Govt. fudging data: Tejashwi
“Bihar is heading towards becoming not only a national but a global hotspot of the pandemic,” said Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav. He accused the State government of conducting ‘low’ number of tests and “fudging the data”.
On Saturday, president of the Lok Janshakti Party, an ally of the NDA government in Bihar and at the Centre, Chirag Paswan had welcomed the Central government’s decision to send the team to Bihar.
“The spiralling number might soon lead to an explosive situation and has become a matter of concern for the people. In view of the circumstances, the Central government has decided to send the team so that the situation can be brought under control,” tweeted Mr. Paswan.
However, the State government has of late been claiming to have achieved the figure of 10,000 sample tests a day and that the Chief Minister has set the target for 20,000 tests a day.