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Hyderabad Telangana Prime Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s perception as a strong leader who has made timely interventions to contain the coronavirus epidemic came under the scrutiny when the body of a doctor alleged that his government may have reported cases of COVID- 19 in the state.
Doctors For Seva, a collective of private doctors based in Hyderabad, raised questions about official data that has shown a decline in new cases in Telangana, projecting that the state is on track for normalcy.
In a petition presented to the five-member central inter-ministerial team, which visited Telangana for eight days to assess the situation regarding the spread of the virus, the group emphasized the need for precision and transparency in handling the pandemic. The petition, signed by more than a dozen reputable doctors, such as public health specialist Dr. Santosh Kraleti, senior pediatrician Vijayanand Jampuri, and orthopedic surgeon G. Vedaprakash, suspected that the state government was not conducting enough tests. The petition also claims that the state does not report COVID-19 cases and deaths, in an apparent attempt to present a relatively optimistic picture.
Credit has been given to the collective’s charge, a letter from the director of medical education has emerged to several medical superintendents, saying that “all officers are ordered not to collect samples of corpses for further Covid-19 testing.”
Letter from the Director of Medical Education.
Doctors For Seva, a nongovernmental organization made up of doctors and public health specialists from Telangana and elsewhere, called for the government to collaborate with the private health sector to manage the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Sanjeev Singh Yadav, president of the Telangana branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), said that private hospitals can help the government ease the burden without much financial stress for patients. He said that private hospitals do not have to subsidize the cost of treatment in most cases, since 60% of people in the state are covered by health insurance, while 20-30% of people are employed. and they have health care benefits.
The number of people not covered by health insurance is negligible, Dr. Yadav clarified. Lack of proper test kits could be one of the reasons why not enough testing is done, he said.
However, there could be a major problem if the private sector is involved in managing the pandemic. The poor of Telangana have received health cards known as Arogyasri. However, private hospitals have reportedly not been accepting them for the past two years, as the government has been unable to settle bills amounting to Rs 1600 crore.
However, health experts have been persistently saying that Telangana should immediately step up its plans to counter the spread of the coronavirus. According to the official website of the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), there are eight government and 11 private testing centers in Telangana. The private healthcare sector provides almost 82% of inpatient beds and 76% of outpatient services in Telangana. In such a situation, the group of doctors considered that the Telangana government should immediately collaborate with the private health sector as a mitigation measure.
To corroborate their claims on the issue of underreporting of deaths from COVID-19, the doctors’ body mentioned a case reported at Gandhi Hospital on April 26.
“An 80-year-old male patient died of COVID-19 pneumonia at a COVID-designated hospital (Gandhi Hospital) in Hyderabad, and the death certificate listed the patient as COVID positive. However, the death is not reflected as the death of COVID in the COVID-19 public statements issued daily on any date from April 26 to 28, as the government maintained that the number of deaths remained stable at 25 during the period until April 28. “The request said.
The wire He could not contact the state health minister, Etela Rajender, for his comment on the accusation.
The collective warned that underreporting will cause a fatal impact once the blockade is alleviated.
Recently, the West Bengal government was also criticized for alleged underreporting of COVID-19 related deaths. It was learned that many deaths of COVID-19 patients who had comorbidities were not registered by the state until recently.
KCR evaluates exit plans
The blockade has dealt a fatal blow to the state’s economy. Hyderabad, the capital of Telangana and a hub of manufacturing, tourism and the knowledge economy, contributes one third of the state’s revenue. Most of these activities have been reduced since the end of March, when the closure was imposed. The prime minister also announced that the blockade will continue in the state until May 29, albeit with some easing restrictions.
In an apparent attempt to relieve the capital city of the debilitating impact of the blockade, the government is considering exit plans in a calibrated manner. It aims to gradually open up the real estate, manufacturing and entertainment sectors.
Telangana has reported 1,107 COVID-19 cases and 29 deaths, half of them in the Great Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), as of May 7.
Containing the spread of infections in the GHMC, which spans more than 625 square km in 13 municipalities and eight-gram panchayats, is a daunting task for official agencies. In the densely populated city, with a population of over 1 crore, it is difficult to maintain social distance to control the spread of infection.
An isolation room in the old city of Hyderabad. Photo: PTI
Telangana has conducted 19,278 tests as of April 30, which is equivalent to 551 tests per million. The number of new cases remained less than 15 per day for the past week, which the doctor’s body attributed to the reduction in the number of tests.
In an attempt to bring their point home, the medical team informed the visiting team that Suryapet is one of the Telangana districts with the highest number of COVID-19 cases. But no tests were conducted in the district between April 23-29, he said. They also said that Andhra Pradesh, which has reported an increase in cases in recent weeks, has been testing at a much higher frequency (1,930 tests per million population).
Terrible conditions in isolation rooms
In addition to the low evidence charge, complaints galore indicate that conditions at the isolation facilities are deplorable. Suspect patients and the main contacts of infected people are quarantined in bedrooms and general rooms, with common bathrooms and not in single rooms. This runs counter to the Kerala model, which recommends that each suspected patient should be isolated in individual rooms so that a probable positive case does not infect others on the premises.
Doctors at Gandhi and Niloufer Hospitals in Hyderabad, and in several other areas of Telangana, have also demanded the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as N95 face masks.
While the government has requested that all COVID-19 patients in Hyderabad be sent to the Gandhi hospital, health workers at other government hospitals such as Osmania General Hospital or the Government Maternity Hospital have not received PPE. Some of the patients visiting these hospitals are reportedly asymptomatic COVID-19 patients, putting staff at risk for infection. Health experts noted that these hospitals can become new epicenters if health care personnel do not receive PPE.
State Health Minister Etela Rajender, at a press conference a few days ago, defended the ongoing testing process. He said the government is conducting tests in accordance with ICMR guidelines, which say that only those showing symptoms of COVID-19 should be evaluated.
Telangana Health Minister Etela Rajender. Photo: Facebook / Eatala Rajender
A Hyderabad-based analyst, who wants to remain anonymous, said The wire that the underreporting of COVID-19 cases is a political measure calculated by the Prime Minister of Telangana to curb the BJP’s plans to polarize the situation on communal lines. The state has a large Muslim population, and, as in other states, BJP leaders have tried to blame the spread of the virus only on those who attended the Tablighi Jamaat religious gathering. KCR recently criticized those who made polarizing statements, saying that no action will be taken against those who attended Jamaat.
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