Despite the NITI Aayog’s top ranking for the State in health indicators, Kerala is struggling hard to contain the Covid-19 pandemic. Death toll till Tuesday evening stood at 47,066 while 2,474 new pandemic cases were diagnosed during the last 24 hours, according to a release by Health Minister Veena George.
The agitation by the Government doctors demanding better working conditions and restoration of the slashed allowances entered 21 day on Tuesday. Hundreds of doctors owing allegiance to the Kerala Government Medical Officers’ Association staged a ‘standing’ demonstration in front of the Secretariat at Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday. Dr T N Suresh, general secretary, KGMOA, said that the coming days would see the agitation getting intensified if the Government fails to meet the basic demands by the doctors.
Dr A K Rauf, former president of KGMOA who addressed the demonstration asked the State administration to come forward to hold discussions with the agitating doctors and restore the allowances and salaries which were ‘ruthlessly’ cut down by the Government. “The NITI Aayog ranking is not an indicator of the ground situation or reality. It is an arm-chair survey and does not reflect the true picture of the health administration in Kerala,” said Dr Rajiv Pillai, a doctor with almost three decades service and a frontline warrior against the pandemic.
Meanwhile Tamil Nadu Government Doctors Association has asked Chief Minister M K Stalin to shut down schools and colleges in the State and opt for on-line classes in view of the unabated Covid-19 pandemic and the threat posed by Omicron. In a communication to the chief minister, Dr K Senthil, president, TNGDA, pointed out that the new variant of Covid-19 spread four times faster than the other known variants. “This is the stage where we can stop the spread. Students in schools and colleges could become super spreaders. When the infection starts spreading, the hospitals will be loaded and we will run out of resources if it is anything like the second wave,” Dr Senthil said in the communication.
Speaking to The Pioneer, Dr Senthil said there are only few houses in the State which do not have children attending schools/colleges. “If they get infected with the pandemic, other members in the family would fall prey to the disease. The best option as on today is to restrict the people from gathering in large numbers for functions , marriages, deaths, temple celebration and festivities,” he said. Dr Senthil pointed out that Tamil Nadu is already in a festive mood as the harvest festival “Pongal” is round the corner. “We have to be strict to prevent the people from another onslaught,” said the TNGDA president.
The general feeling is that Stalin would go by the advice of the doctors and is likely to order the closure of educational institutions.
“We are continuing with on-line classes to help the students who prefer to stay away from campuses. But the number of students attending physical classes are meagre,” said a senior official in the higher education department.