While condemning the State government’s action of imposing weekend and day curfew, All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Ivan D’Souza on Monday asked the government to focus on strengthening health facilities for treating the increasing number of COVID-19 patients.
Talking to reporters here, Mr. D’Souza said that instead of addressing the need for oxygen and beds for COVID-19 patients the State government has announced weekend curfew, “partial lockdown” and restricting the number of people attending marriages and funerals. “There is a dire need to increase beds and make other arrangements for COVID-19 patients. Unfortunately, the State government and the MLAs are not addressing these pressing issues,” he said.
“Oxygen and ICU beds in three major private hospitals in Mangaluru are full. There is an urgent need to increase the number of oxygen and ICU beds in Mangaluru,” he said.
Dakshina Kannada is reporting around 500 new cases every day for the last few days and there are only 300 ICU beds and 274 oxygen beds. The district administration should take steps to arrange for about 5,000 ICU and oxygen beds in the district.
The State government should release a White Paper on the plan of action taken to tackle the surge in COVID-19. The Union government should shelve the proposed expansion of Bengaluru Metro at ₹20,000 crore and the proposed purchase of aircraft for Prime Minister at an estimated cost of ₹8,500 crore. This amount should be used to give free vaccination.