Team Herald
PANJIM: Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday lamented that Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant’s much touted announcement of wage hike and insurance to COVID healthcare workers has not fructified even after a year.
AAP Goa convener Rahul Mhambre said exactly a year ago the Chief Minister had announced Rs 50 lakh insurance cover and a 20 per cent hike in their wages.
“However till date though a year has passed neither of the two have been fulfilled,” said Rahul and claimed that the healthcare workers are still paid the old wages with no insurance cover.
AAP government in Delhi came out with a good model to deal with COVID which has been hailed and adopted by some States.
“However it is unfortunate that Goa did not take a leaf from Delhi even though a painstakingly prepared white paper was presented to it,” Rahul claimed and added that the State is now facing the second wave and the government is ill-equipped to deal with COVID as it is following the same procedures it undertook earlier without realising that the second wave needs to be dealt with differently.
He said the Goa government would do well to implement the recommendations in the white paper and at least adopt the strategy which includes home isolation, reducing death count, ambulance management and involving all stakeholders.
“It is time for Dr Pramod to take the second wave seriously and ensure the safety of Goan population,” said Rahul.
Besides the 5T formula which includes Testing, Tracing, Treatment, Tracking and Teamwork that gave excellent results in Delhi needs to be adopted in Goa, he demanded and called for increasing the testing facilities in Goa as the cases are increasing.
He also called for proper guidelines for home isolation and demanded more facilities for isolation as Goa has the highest rate of COVID cases.
“Goa’s 20 per cent COVID positive rate is highest in the country and Margao and Calangute are emerging as the new hotspots,” he added.
