Nyishi body slams government for poor management of COVID-19 pandemic

OUR CORRESPONDENT

ITANAGAR: The All Nyishi Youth Association (ANYA) has demanded a white paper from the State government on the funds received from the Centre as well as via donations from the people for combating the coronavirus pandemic and the details of managing it. At the same time, the Association also expressed its resentment over the difficulties faced by the COVID-19 frontline workers in Arunachal Pradesh and also the alleged manner in which the State government has been handling the quarantine centres.

In a joint statement here, ANYA president Byabang Joram and its general secretary Bengia Tada said that the State could have improved the emergency health facilities during the four months of several phases of lockdown since March 25.

"The government has done nothing despite support from the general public, NGOs and CBOs. It rather exacerbated the situation with no containment of the virus," they said, pointing to the "mishandling of the complex health issues" and the spike in positive cases.

Seeking the number of designated and dedicated COVID-19 hospitals that have been created, ANYA termed as myopic and ill-conceived the decision to convert the 'Tomo Riba Institute of Health and Medical Sciences' (TRIHMS) at Nahalarlagun, the State's lone referral hospital into a COVID-19 Hospital.

"Why aren't the doctors and frontline workers engaged in COVID-19 duties provided separate dedicated pandemic homes? They are working from their respective homes, which endangers the health of their family members. Besides such a system goes against the directives of WHO (World Health Organisation)," the duo said.

The ANYA leaders also criticised the Health and Family Welfare Minister for the "unprofessional" handling of the situation through "trial and error" methods;and demanded adequate personal protection equipment for all frontline workers working round-the-clock.

The other demands included ensuring availability of all required medicines, compulsory and regular health bulletins updating the people on the status of the pandemic and the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in place, and ramping up the testing capacity to 10,000 per day, the statement added.

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