GUWAHATI: A PIL has been filed in the High Court of Meghalaya on Thursday by the Meghalaya High Court Bar Association on why the body of the doctor who died of COVID-19 could not be cremated at Barapthar or buried at Nongpoh.
The PIL (No. 4 / 2020) has sought to know whether any action has been taken on curfew violators and the Dorbar Shnong Mawbah for obstruction of state duty.
Raising question on the State’s lack of preparedness to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, the PIL has highlighted the manner in which quarantined people in Bethany Hospital in Shillong were left without food and with only a bottle of water on until 4 pm of Wednesday.
That the petitioner has stated the State (Meghalaya) is absolutely unprepared for facing this pandemic and necessary arrangements for tackling this pandemic are not available in the state.
“Further more it has come to light that the State till date has not designated any particular hospital as a dedicated COVID hospital for tackling such a pandemic. There are neither enough testing facilities in the State nor enough test kits for undertaking this primary exercise. It is humbly stated that till filing of this affidavit, even the primary contacts of the deceased doctor have not been taken for testing and they are made to stay in pitiable conditions where even basic amenities are not available to them,” the petitioner stated while seeking suitable directive from the court to make the state authorities to act prompt to take on the pandemic in the right earnest.