Centre to review Bihar Covid crisis
A three-member central team reached Patna on Sunday to review the Bihar government’s preparedness to deal with Coronavirus situation in the state.
The central team led by joint secretary Lav Agarwal will hold meetings and provide necessary support and guidance to the state health department officials, sources said.
The visit of the central team comes amid allegations of negligence and mishandling of Covid-19 situation by the state government being led by
Chief Minister Nitish
Kumar.
The team is also likely to visit other districts including Gaya to review the sudden rise in coronavirus cases.
As per an assessment, the total number of Covid19 cases in the state has gone up to 24,967. Patna with 3,581 positive cases and 28 deaths has been the worst hit followed by Bhagalpur where 1,532 cases have been reported and 16 persons have died due to the deadly virus.
Other districts where the situation is grim are Siwan where 1,094 cases and six deaths have been recorded, Muzaffarpur
1,082 cases and eight deaths and Gaya 768 cases and 13 deaths.
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav had earlier blamed Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for “not being able to handle the crisis properly” and alleged that the government was hiding actual figures and misleading people of Bihar.
He also lashed out at the state government for conducting “low number of tests”.
“Testing in Bihar is the lowest in the country. The government is also trying to hide actual Covid figures. The central team is being sent because cases are rising in Bihar. The state government should be more transparent in providing actual figures” Leader of the opposition in the state assembly Tejashwi Yadav said.
Besides, people are also sharing videos and pictures on social media to show the apathy of doctors and medical staff towards Covid-19 patients in Bihar.
Sources said that cases of negligence in government hospitals could be due to the lack of PPE kits and other safety gears.
A senior doctor in Patna told this newspaper that, “medical staff can’t do anything because they don’t have enough PPE kits and fear being infected with the virus”.