GOVT MANAGING PERCEPTIONS?
Trying to give sense Covid problem not as bad: Rahul
NEW DELHI: Governments are trying to “manage the perception” about coronavirus infections and give a sense that the problem is not as bad as it is, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Wednesday, asserting that it is important to accept the problem and fight it.
On Doctor’s Day, he expressed solidarity with health workers and described them as “a nonviolent army” risking their lives to save people from the coronavirus pandemic.
He was in conversation with four Indian nurses working in New Zealand, Australia, the UK and India and heard their experiences and said people stood with them in these times of crisis.
Gandhi, in his 30-minute conversation with Anu Ragnat (working in New Zealand), Narendra Singh (Australia), Sherlymol Puravady (the UK), and Vipin Krishnan (working in AIIMS, Delhi) — discussed the impact of working in a Covid-19 environment on their family lives.
He asked them how their families were coping with the fear of being infected as they were dealing with Covid patients and how the governments were treating them.
This was part of the series of conversations the former Congress president is having on coronavirus. He has earlier talked to experts in the field. Gandhi claimed testing is not being allowed in many Delhi hospitals. He gave an assurance he will write a letter to authorities concerned to expedite grant of compensation to healthcare workers, as announced by the Delhi government to those who died due to Covid-19. “One of the doctors of a private hospital I was speaking to was telling me it becomes impossible for them to work if they cannot test Covid patients. If they don't know if he has Covid or not, they don't know where to put him,” he said.
The governments are trying to manage the perception, they are trying to give a sense that the problem is not as bad as it is. But I believe that we have to face the problem, so we should accept the problem, define the problem accurately and then fight the problem. — Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader