The state of Uttar Pradesh is reeling under the surge of COVID-19 cases and its mismanagement. This has been pointed out by none other than PM Narendra Modi’s cabinet minister of State Labour & Employment, Santosh Kumar Gangwar.
In his letter to Uttar Pradesh’s CM Yogi Adityanath, Gangwar alleged that there is gross mismanagement in terms of handling the COVID-19 crisis in the state.
“Officers are not answering calls. Medical equipment used in hospitals is being sold at double the price. Patients are being made to run from hospital to hospital in the name of referrals and are not being admitted.”, said Gangwar in his letter.
In the letter, minister Gangwar talked about:
Under the MSME, the government offers a 50% discount to all industries that set up oxygen plants. On the same lines, I suggest that private government hospitals in Bareilly should also be entitled to a 50% discount at the earliest and enable them to build an oxygen plant so that the oxygen scarcity problems can be eliminated.
2) Essential medical equipment used in the treatment of COVID-19 is being sold at the highest possible prices by private entities. Therefore, the rate of such equipment should be fixed by the state government.
3) COVID infected patients must be admitted to a referral hospital at the earliest. It has become prevalent that despite such referrals, the suffering patients are being turned down and re-referred to another hospital. This is a cause for concern as such patients are fighting oxygen deprivation and in many incidents are also dying.
4) There is an unprecedented shortage of oxygen cylinders in Bareilly. The reason for this is cylinder hoarding by the people in their homes as a measure of precaution. Identifying such houses and taking recommended action against those people will facilitate the availability of the cylinders to the needy. Also stocked cylinders are being sold at arbitrary prices.
5) Health officials of the city are not answering phone calls. Due to this patients are facing severe discomfort. A facility to admit COVID patients in all private hospitals of Bareilly should be provided.
6) All hospitals under the Ayushman Bharat which offer vaccine-related facilities should offer registration for vaccinations along with vaccine administration. This will help the person applying for vaccinations by offering maximum benefit and also avoid the COVID-19 pandemic.
I have offered my suggestions to the DM also but he took no action.
Also Read: Modi phones CMs of Bihar, Karnataka, Punjab, U'Khand to take stock of Covid situation
The Union Minister in his letter to the DM of Bareilly a few days ago said that he had suggested a 7 point COVID management strategy to improve the health facilities in the city but the latter did not pay any heed to it. Even before the Union Minister, many Yogi government MLAs and ministers have been questioning the administrative officials regarding COVID management.