PANJIM: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday blamed Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s stubborn refusal for a proper lockdown and the complete abdication of his responsibilities for the continuing COVID crisis in the State.
Referring to the high positivity rate and number of deaths in the State for the past six weeks, AAP State Convenor Rahul Mhambre said, “CM Sawant’s multiple missteps are directly responsible for prolonging Goans’ misery.”
“Sawant is claiming that new cases have reduced. But it is partly due to reduced testing which has gone down from 7,000 per day to 4,000 per day. The real indicator, i.e. positivity rate, continues to be consistently above 30-35 per cent, and on an average 40 Goans are dying every single day,” Mhambre claimed.
He recalled that the AAP had alerted the Chief Minister and Health Minister about the second wave on February 17, and alleged that the BJP government’s attention was more on elections and on filling pockets.
Mhambre said even after the second wave had completely set in by late April, the Chief Minister refused to take it seriously and implement a proper lockdown.
“A short but complete lockdown of two or three weeks could have had a much better effect. But the extended ‘fake lockdown’ of Chief Minister Sawant has neither helped save lives nor has it protected livelihood,” Mhambre charged.
He said with such a high number of active cases and complete chaos at the COVID hospitals, it was expected that the government would enforce the curfew better and also strengthen the home isolation protocol. But instead the government has abdicated all its responsibilities, and no ministers or officials appear to be in control of these critical functions.
“The most telling sign is how the government has completely washed its hands off the home isolation protocol. Every home isolation patient needs to be given proper orientation, equipped with an oximeter, and guided by a doctor with daily tele-consultation. By removing the requirement for online registration, there is no supervision over what the home isolation patients are doing, and after they reach a hospital in serious condition, the Chief Minister resorts to blaming their deaths on the delay in admission,” Mhambre charged and added that the party launched Doctor Helpline and Oximeter Seva for this reason.
