Raising concern over the rising number of COVID-19 cases in Tripura, former chief minister Manik Sarkar said that people have lost faith in the public healthcare system of the state.
Speaking to reporters, the senior CPI(M) leader said that patients are afraid to get admitted to government hospitals in the state and queues are getting longer at private clinics.
There is a shortage of PPE in the state. Doctors are afraid of going to COVID wards as they are not provided with protective equipment. Patients are afraid of getting admitted to the GB Pant Hospital as people over there are not getting treatment. People have lost faith in the public healthcare system,” Sarkar said.
A six-member team of CPI(M) legislators recently met Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and apprised him of the situation, seeking immediate steps to boost testing, tracing and treatment of the coronavirus infected people, he said.
Not only the GB Pant Hospital, but all the public hospitals are badly managed. The healthcare system has collapsed in the state. The GB Pant Hospital was once the pride of the people because of the care and treatment that were provided there, but now admitted patients are fleeing from the hospital,” Sarkar added.
He said the CPI(M) demands that the workforce should be augmented to tackle the pandemic and the state government should induct doctors, nurses and paramedics immediately.
Sarkar said that poverty, the crisis of food and work have become a larger threat to people’s lives than the COVID- 19 in Tripura.
The people, who are poverty-stricken are facing severe livelihood crises as MGNREGA, Tripura Urban Employment Programme (TUEP) and other poverty alleviation schemes have fallen face down in the wake of the pandemic. People need food to build immunity against coronavirus and for that they need work,” he said.