Deceptive figures, sterile health department
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: August 11, 2021 -

IT'S rather disheartening that on the same day chief minister N Biren went on an oxygen plant inauguration spree in Chandel, Ukhrul and Senapati districts and revealed the government's vision to vaccinate all the eligible people within September with an aim to contain Covid-19 outbreak, the state registered spike in the daily test positivity rate which testified laxity in ramping up the testing drive.

The state may be heading towards achieving the goal to fully inoculate all the targeted sections of the population but such an accomplishment will be good for statistical enlightenment only especially in view of the Delta variant of the novel coronavirus not sparing even those who have received both doses of the vaccine.

Regardless of the government working to ensure availability of basic medicines and equipment to fight the pandemic such as continuous installation of medical oxygen plants, increasing number of oxygen cylinders and concentrators, and beds in hospitals and other Covid-19 treatment facilities across the state, failure to improve the rate of testing will be detrimental to effectively containing the contagion.

Contrary to assertion by the chief minister at one of the inauguration events on Monday that the government has been working tirelessly for the welfare of the people and trying to save precious lives from the virulent disease, the fact remains that Manipur is one of the states with the highest daily test positivity rate in the country as on date.

Interestingly, he also pointed out that early detection and timely treatment will save precious lives from the dreaded disease.

However, the CM pitching for early detection of the infected people has not been complimented by the health department, of which he is the minister in-charge.

For instance, the testing capacity dropping to 3005 samples on Sunday compared to over 5500 the previous day testifies that the health department has been ignoring the importance of tracing the vectors for breaking the chain of transmission.

The test positivity rate in the state registering 15.54 per cent on Sunday against 13.15 per cent on Saturday shows that the testing or contact tracing exercise is not being prioritised by the health department authorities.

The lethargic approach of the department could be comprehended from Kerala's test positivity rate hovering around 13 per cent on Monday, though the southern state accounts for half of India's total number of daily cases.

The number of Covid-19 infections and fatalities, as reported in the official bulletin issued on Monday, may have dropped to one of the lowest since outbreak of the second wave but these figures are simply deceptive if the day's test positivity rate is taken into account.

It is lamentable that the health department seems uninterested in testing as many people as possible in-spite of the said exercise being established as the surest means to finding solutions to stop the spread of contagious disease.

Such callousness on the part of the department authorities also compels one to wonder whether the pandemic situation is being deliberately abetted so as to feast on the periodical allocation of fund by the Union government.