Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Thursday appealed to religious leaders to urge their followers to remain indoors, considering the contagious nature of the coronavirus while the state Congress highlighted the lack of protective equipment.
During a meeting with leaders of religious organisations here, Sonowal stressed on the need to maintain strict lockdown norms by people of all sections to succeed in the fight against the coronavirus.
He said since Covid-19 is a new virus and medical scientists and researchers the world over are yet to find a vaccine, the best way to contain it was to stay indoors. “Coronavirus does not differentiate between religion, community, caste, creed or skin colour. Therefore people, irrespective of their religious affiliations, should stay united and steadfast in their resolve to overcome this challenge posed by the global pandemic,” he said. Sonowal reiterated that maintaining social distancing, avoiding gatherings and regular washing of hands were the keys to defeat Covid-19.
“The situation warrants that all religious activities are performed within the house and religious leaders must take on the responsibility to educate the people about the importance of abstaining from any kind of religious or social gathering during these times of crisis,” he said.
He urged the religious leaders to ensure that no provocative statements are made to disturb social harmony and to generate awareness among their followers about coronavirus protocols. He called upon them to ask their followers to refrain from making provocative statements.
Sonowal stressed on the need to adhere to health department advisory such as maintaining social distance to wage a unified war against Covid-19 to save humanity. He urged the religious leaders to send frequent messages to their followers, highlighting the importance of lockdown.
He appreciated the people of the state for following the instructions and issued a stern warning to those who defy lockdown norms, jeopardising their own and others’ safety.
PCC concern
The Opposition Congress on Thursday claimed that the stock of personal protective equipment (PPE) and N95 masks in the state was “grossly inadequate” to fight threat of coronavirus pandemic. The claim was promptly dismissed by Dispur.
Speaking to this correspondent, Assam PCC president Ripun Bora said according to a document, Assam Bulletin on Covid19, prepared by the directorate general of health services under the Union ministry of health and family welfare and tweeted by him in the afternoon, the state has only 264 PPE kits and 975 N95 masks for doctors and nurses.
However, state health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, when asked about the stock, said it was more than 15,000 but did not specify whether the figure referred to PPE kits, N95 masks or both.
At a news meet on April 1, he had said the government has 9,000 PPE kits and 80,000 N95 masks.
Samir Kumar Sinha, principal secretary to the health and family welfare department, also said the state had “enough stock” of both the protective equipment.
This is the second time since Wednesday that the PCC has highlighted alleged gaps in the state’s preparedness. On Wednesday, Bora had told Sonowal that only BJP workers and supporters were being included in the list of beneficiaries for the government’s relief measures in the state. On Thursday, it highlighted the “inadequate” stock position of protective kits.
The document tweeted by Bora says of the 264 PPE kits, 101 are in the districts, 107 in medical college and hospitals and only 56 in central store. Similarly, of the 975 N95 masks, 611 are in the districts, 264 in medical college and hospitals and 100 in the central store. The document also says the state has 2,27,522 triple-layer masks of which 98,766 are in the districts, 68,606 in medical college and hospitals and 60,150 in the central store.
Jorhat Medical College and Hospital principal Atul Chandra Baro said they were not authorised to disclose the stock. “I can only say that we have enough stock. The government said it would airlift (PPE kits and N95 masks) if we need more,” he said.
Assam Medical College and Hospital, Dibrugarh, principal and chief superintendent Hiranya Kumar Goswami, said they had 150 PPE kits on Thursday and the government would send another 1,000 on Friday. He said the hospital also has 2,500 N95 masks.
When the “available” stock position was pointed out to Bora, he said he was highlighting what was there in the official bulletin. “The government is saying it has stocks but the government document is reflecting grossly inadequate stocks. It is an area of concern because our frontline health professionals and workers need to be protected and we don’t know how long this situation will last,” he said.
Asserting that the Opposition party had supported every government move to check the spread of the virus, such as the lockdown, he added that it was also its duty “to highlight the gaps and loopholes in our preparedeness so that these can be fixed swiftly”.
The stock position was first highlighted by the Assam branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) in a letter to Sarma on March 24, saying that it was “very much worried” to hear that Assam did not have sufficient stock of PPE kits for doctors and other health workers which is essential in “highly infective situation”. It had urged the government to procure sufficient PPEs. An IMA source said the stock position was “much better now” and more orders for kits and masks had been placed. According to them, in an eight-hour shift, a doctor will need three sets of PPEs and N95 masks as these are not reusable.
Till the filing of this report Assam had 29 positive cases, 28 of them linked to the Nizamuddin event. It is the worst affected among the northeastern states.
Additional reporting by our special correspondent
