SHILLONG, May 3: The Congress has raised questions over the state government’s preparedness in dealing with the surge of COVID-19 cases.
Criticising the government for its claim that everything is in place, senior Congress leader, Ampareen Lyngdoh on Monday claimed that the situation on the ground is totally different.
“We can see that the district hospitals are not prepared with the facilities to treat returnees or residents infected with COVID-19. They are not prepared to combat and arrest the spread of the virus,” she said.
According to her, majority of the critical COVID-19 patients from many districts are admitted in various hospitals in Shillong.
“Out of the 200 critical patients, 175 are undergoing treatment in Shillong. If the government does not strengthen health infrastructure in the districts, then we might see an explosion of the cases in Shillong,” the Congress leader said.
She suggested the segregation of COVID-19 patients in the hospitals. “We are not very sure if the same doctors are attending to the COVID-19 patients as well as the other patients. If this aspect is not addressed, there are chances that the other patients might get infected by the virus,” Lyngdoh said. The Congress leader said it is a matter of grave concern that 20 precious lives were lost to the pandemic in the past one and half month.
“This is a huge number considering our population. I am sure there are many other COVID-19 deaths in the state which went unreported,” she said.
She raised questions also on the government’s move to set up one of the three oxygen plants in Garo Hills.
“The government should set its priority right. We would like to know the number of COVID-19 cases in Garo Hills. As per official figures, most COVID-19 patients in Garo Hills are admitted in Civil Hospital, Tura,” Lyngdoh said.
According to her, the location for an oxygen plant in Garo Hills will not be suitable since the figures clearly indicate that the demand is high in Shillong.
“The logistics for putting up a plant 500 km away will result in wasteful additional expenditure on transport, valuable time for travel and a host of other related feasibility factors,” she said.
