Image Courtesy:barandbench.com

A retired District Judge, Ramesh Chandra has written an open letter regarding his wife’s demise due to Covid-19 in Lucknow, highlighting the inept healthcare facilities in Uttar Pradesh.

The letter, according to Bar & Bench, reads, “My wife, Madhu Chandra died due to the administration’s negligence. The present situation is so bad that there is nobody to pick up the dead body. Please help!”

As per the former Judge’s letter, both of them had tested positive for Covid-19 and were under home quarantine. “Since yesterday morning, I have been trying to call everyone, but no one is attending my calls, even the basic home isolation (Covid -19 medicines) was not delivered on time”, reported Bar & Bench.

Reacting to this, Advocate Haider Ali, a relative of the Chandra’s, told Bar & Bench that Madhu Chandra had received both rounds of the vaccine. “Today the mother of a close friend died because of covid. She didn’t even get a bed in the hospitals. Her husband is a retired district judge, he kept trying to somehow get his wife admitted in a hospital but the situation is so pathetic and dreadful that she was not even sent medicines. Also, she was vaccinated (taken both the shots of vaccine)”, he said.

Uttar Pradesh has over 95,000 active infection cases with several people complaining of ambulances not reaching them in time, unavailability of hospital beds, shortage of medicines, etc. A letter written by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s cabinet minister (law), Brijesh Pathak states the collapse of the healthcare system in the state, especially the worsening condition in Lucknow.

The letter which went viral on social media, was a confidential one and was addressed to additional chief secretary, medical health, Amit Mohan Prasad and principal secretary, medical education, Alok Kumar. The minister wrote, “I am shocked to find that while government hospitals and labs are taking around 4-5 days to give the test reports, private laboratories have been asked to stop Covid testing.”

He also reportedly mentioned the paucity of test kits and testing facilities in the state capital, an issue that other citizens too have been raising. He wrote that there was a need for at least 17,000 coronavirus test kits a day but barely 10,000 were available in Lucknow.

At present, CM Adityanath and former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav have both tested positive for Covid-19. As per a report in The Indian Express, the state’s recovery rate has reduced to 85 per cent from around 98 per cent at the end of March. Overall, India has recorded its highest number at a staggering 2,17,000 cases in the last 24 hours.

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