Gov: TS response unsatisfactory
I HAVE BEEN communicating my concerns and suggestions on the Covid situation to the state government. I have written several letters over the past couple of months, but the responses have been less than satisfactory and leave much more to be desired.
TAMILISAI SOUNDARARAJAN, Governor
When Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan asked the Chandrashekar Rao-led government to share information on the status of the fight against Coronavirus, the response was unsatisfactory.
When she expressed her desire to visit the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (Nims) to show solidarity with doctors and medical staff who are increasingly catching Covid-19 while on duty, the health department tried to prevent her from going there.
She has written several letters to the Chief Minister to follow Central guidelines, increase testing, and share information on cases and deaths with her more transparently, but she has received opaque answers that hid more and they revealed. The state government, against all Constitutional protocol and civil norms, has been cold-shouldering her.
Reflecting and seconding the deep frustration of sections of society over how the government is handling the Covid pandemic, the Governor, unable to watch silently as the crisis worsens, spoke exclusively to Deccan Chronicle and aired her views on the performance of her government.
“I have been communicating my concerns and suggestions on the Covid situation to the state government. I have written several letters over the past couple of months,” she said, but the responses have been “less than satisfactory” and “leave much more to be desired” even in terms of basic information sharing, she said.
The government has chosen to treat Dr Soundararajan’s requests for information on the spread of the disease, rate of testing, and explanation on disease management and containment, with the same extremely parsimonious information-sharing attitude that it has adopted with the media and the general public.
Asked if she gets a detailed daily brief on the Covid-19 situation, the Governor replied with a laugh: “I also get a Covid-19 bulletin at the end of the day from the health department.”
In the Governor’s opinion, the government should have been more open and responsive to her letters and the lack of openness indicates a predilection for secrecy about the situation.
She said so much more could be done to prevent the spread of the disease even now, but for that to happen, a change of attitude is required.
Dr Soundararajan said she could “no longer watch quietly”, given what was happening to the people and medical professionals. “That is why I decided to go to Nims and meet with doctors and other medical staff who have contracted the disease just because they chose to risk their lives for others,” she said.
Authorities at Nims and the health department were aghast at her decision to visit the Covid-19 ward and tried hard to discourage her. But her insistence that she will visit and meet admitted health care staff forced the authorities to reluctantly allow her to visit Nims on Monday.