Madhya Pradesh is facing the pandemic literally on a wing and a prayer with almost its entire senior health bureaucracy incapacitated by the coronavirus and the initial battle taking the backseat as political games were played to topple the government.
The BJP government, which was sworn in on March 23 after the Congress dispensation was overthrown, only has the chief minister, Shivraj Chouhan, as no other minister has been sworn in yet.
Thirty-six Covid-19 deaths, including those of two doctors in Indore, have been reported so far in Madhya Pradesh and the death rate of 7.9 per cent is much higher than that of the average in India (3.04 per cent) and the world (6 per cent).
At least 47 health department officials, including the principal secretary (health), have reportedly tested positive for the virus and many more who had come in contact with them have been quarantined at home. In Bhopal, the residential areas of ministers, bureaucrats and the governor are now containment zones with curfew-like restrictions in place.
Three key districts — commercial centre Indore, pilgrim hub Ujjain and capital Bhopal — have been sealed.
The Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, a health rights NGO, said in a statement: “The Covid-19 situation in Madhya Pradesh has worsened fast in the last one week with the number of deaths quadrupling and positive cases found in 18 districts.
“This is mainly due to a much delayed response. Post-Holi, when other states were gearing up to fight the pandemic, Madhya Pradesh was thrown into a political turmoil with the leadership focusing either on saving the ruling government, or busy in toppling it.”
In the second week of March, BJP and Congress MLAs, including then health minister Tulsi Ram Silawat who switched from the Congress to the BJP, had been huddled in resorts as part of thrust-and-parry measures to depose the Congress government and install that of the BJP.
BJP leaders publicly celebrated the fall of the Congress government, throwing social-distancing caution to the wind, on March 20.
The NGO Jan Swasthya Abhiyan said: “The bureaucracy was reshuffled too, with the chief secretary changed twice in the last one month as well as transfers of lots of senior officials. With no health minister at the helm, the remaining officials tried to manage the worsening situation and a number of them have now fallen ill….”
On March 25, two days after Chouhan was sworn in, the first coronavirus death took place in Madhya Pradesh, at Indore. Soon after, Indore collector Lokesh Jatav and deputy inspector-general of police Ruchivardhan Mishra, who were coordinating the medical and relief efforts, were transferred out.
The state’s health commissioner, Prateek Hajela, was also transferred on April 1. Bhopal’s chief medical and health officer Sudhir Daheriya, who was recently praised by Chouhan, was also shifted out this week.
Asked how the government was managing the crisis in the absence of its top health bureaucrats, including the head of the health department, officers who had been leading the efforts to manage the pandemic, the in-charge of the state PSU that supplies drugs and medical equipment, all of whom have tested positive for the virus, state government spokesman P. Narahari sought a day’s time to reply.
Pressed for a response, he said on WhatsApp: “The questions asked by you are of no good to the society. They don’t add any positive value and don’t help fight the larger evil that is Covid. These questions are just trying to malign the state administration. Will be happy if you have questions that can spread a positive message at this point of time.”
Senior Congress leader Ajay Singh said in a statement: “In order to become a one-man army, the accidental chief minister has put the lives of 7.5 crore of this state’s population at risk.… Madhya Pradesh’s citizens will not forgive him.”
