COVID-19, politics… leave MP wailing

While Death rate across the state remains the highest in country, Chief Minister Shivraj  Singh has advised kadha, yoga  while  blaming Jamaat and CAA for the present day crisis.

COVID-19 virus and the new series of political development across Madhya Pradesh have been directly proportional to each other

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on April 28, suggested use of yoga, chants and music for boosting immunity, that seemed to be branding exercise for distribution of  around 1 crore ayurvedic kadha across the state–declared by him on April 27, a day before.

And on Wednesday, Chouhan made a scathing attack on CAA protestors and Jamaatis in a video conferencing with BJP MPs, legislators and leaders adding, “The coronavirus has spread to Bhopal and Indore, because of CAA protesters and Jamaatis who came from outside.”.

The Chief Minister blamed the then Congress ruled government for the cause and said that it did not do anything to deal with the pandemic. Instead of taking measures, that government was busy preparing for the  prestigious IIFA function.

The Chief Minister also highlighted efforts of the government in tackling the menace adding that Deendayal committees are being set up at Panchayat and ward levels to monitor the situation to help the administration distribute ration”, he said.

This does not mean that the situation is better. As per the latest health bulletin issued by the Govt. of Madhya Pradesh on 29th April 2020, 173 new cases were detected in a day across the state, taking the total positive cases to 2561. 119 deaths were also reported because of the pandemic.

It I to be noted that  death rate in Delhi is 1.62%, Maharashtra 4.29%, Gujarat 4.79%, while in Rajasthan the rate rests at 2.11%

It is alarming that the death rate in Madhya Pradesh is the highest in the country. The pan India death rate of patients affected by COVID-19 infection is 3.21%, whereas the fatality rate in Madhya Pradesh is more than 5%.  While the state’s fatality rate has been stagnant at 5%, for the last two weeks, the rate in Ujjain stands highest among all districts of the state at 16%.

 

Khandwa, Raisen and Ashoknagar are the 3 new districts added in the list where have been death cases reported in last four days.

Similarly, the number of critical cases across the state has risen drastically in the last three days taking them from 35 to 53.

Out of 52, 31 districts of MP are affected with the global pandemic, and calls for a substantial increase in the testing capacities and treatments in all the districts.

Out of 25 dedicated hospitals treating COVID-19, and most of them are in bigger cities. Five of them are in Indore and four are in Bhopal. Therefore it can be concluded that all districts of the state do not have dedicated COVID-19 hospitals.

It is essential to increase capacity of testing and treatment in all districts; otherwise there will be no chance to handle the crisis in the whole state.

The state government bulletin has stopped providing the total number of test samples and pending test results since 27th April 2020. Till 26th April, there were 8439 pending test results. A lot of patients have been waiting for numbers of days to get their test results. No data is being released on pending test results and availability of test kits across the state.

The government needs to decentralize the execution process across districts and focus on developing of screening, testing and treatment facilities at the district level.

It is also very important to provide district wise information of hospital infrastructure that includes beds, ventilators, pending testing results to build trust and confidence of the public at large.