The people in the State do not believe the figures of the COVID-19 positive cases being released by the State government and are afraid to get themselves tested as they do not want to get themselves admitted in the isolation and quarantine centres where the conditions are horrible, said Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president Sake Sailajanath in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mr. Sailajanath, in the letter released to the media here on Saturday, said he was interested in bringing to Mr. Modi’s notice the realistic ground situation in Andhra Pradesh regarding the spread, and the poor, non-transparent strategies adopted by the State government to contain COVID-19.
He said there was widespread disbelief in the State regarding the number of cases being reported by the government. And there was sufficient reason to believe the reports in the press that the government was under-reporting and deliberately hiding the facts about testing and results.
The people were scared to get themselves tested because of the horrible conditions prevailing in the isolation and quarantine centres. Much needed to be done to improve the minimum facilities there to gain the confidence of the people and their cooperation, the PCC chief said.
‘PPEs lacking’
There was callousness on the part of the State government in supplying PPEs or at least protective masks and gloves to doctors, nurses and other health personnel. “I feel sad and ashamed to mention here that scores of doctors and other health personnel have got infected and two doctors have died due to this official carelessness and inefficiency in providing the protective gear to our frontline soldiers in the fight against COVID-19,” he wrote.
‘Huge lapses’
There were huge lapses in the handling of migrant labour, distribution of essential commodities, rations and financial help to the poor to help them tide over the lockdown, he said and urged the Centre to release ₹25,000 crore to the State to bail the people out of a disaster of such massive proportion.
