CHANDIGARH: Dismissing talk of Haryana under-reporting Covid-19 deaths, CM Manohar Lal Khattar said on Tuesday that there was “no point making a noise over the number of people who have died as the dead won’t come back to life”.
“We should avoid playing with the data related to deaths,” Khattar said in Rohtak while responding to a question on the district administration allegedly withholding the exact number of deaths caused by Covid.
“Our entire focus at present should be on how we can provide relief to the people in the state. Our endeavour would be to save the maximum lives. There is no point arguing about the number of deaths. The main issue at present is whether we are able to streamline our system,” the CM said. “Nobody knew about the pandemic. We need everyone’s support at this time and nobody should make data related to deaths a point of contention.”
Congress’s Randeep Surjewala latched on to Khattar’s comments, saying “such words can only be of a ruthless ruler”. “It is necessary to debate each and every death in the state that has taken place because of the government’s failure. It is warranted to debate so that it can reach BJP, which has turned a deaf ear to the issue,” he said.
In Rohtak, Khattar had denied that the administration’s handling of the Covid surge had been lax and insensitive. On senior officers of the administration being allegedly unavailable for any kind of assistance, Khattar said everyone was accessible to him over the phone even at odd hours. He also defended the state’s largest health institute, Rohtak-based PGIMS, shutting its doors to Covid-19 patients. The CM said admission was stalled by low oxygen pressure. “Once the oxygen pressure level came to normal, admission of patients was allowed.”
Haryana has reported 4.5 lakh Covid infections and around 4,000 deaths. At several places, deaths have been allegedly caused by unavailability of oxygen.
View More | Source: Times of India