On the 5th of June, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the General Secretary of the Indian National Congress (INC) slammed the Central Government for claiming victory over the Wuhan virus situation.
On Saturday, Ms. Gandhi took to Twitter and said, “The Prime Minister was engaged in fake publicity of victory over COVID-19 when people of the Country faced acute shortage of oxygen, ICU, Ventilator and hospital beds. But the Government did not focus on that.”
Priyanka Gandhi also said,The Prime Minister was engaged in fake publicity of victory over Covid when people of the country faced acute shortage of oxygen, ICU, Ventilator and hospital beds. But the government did not focus on that.”
Priyanka Gandhi also lashed out at PM Modi’s residence and new Central Vista Project, for which the construction is still going on amid the pandemic. The questions and criticism against the Central Government were asked under her new “Who is responsible” campaign.
Highlighting the lack in medical facilities, beds availability and others, Priyanka Gandhi said the Prime Minister in September 2020 assured 2,27,972 oxygen beds, which was reduced by 36 % ( 1,57,344) in 2021. The INC leader said that during the same period ICU beds were reduced to 36,008 from 66,638 (46 % fall) and ventilator beds were reduced to 23,618 from 33,024, witnessing a fall of 28%.
In addition, Ms. Gandhi said, Delhi’s temporary medical centre was with 10,000 beds and now it has only 2,000 beds available for patients. In the second wave of the Wuhan virus, the Central Government claimed to have a control and assured victory over the virus, but reported a fall in medical facilities.
Slamming the Government, Priyanka Gandhi said that the Standing Committee of Parliament on Health, had warned of the Second Wave and also recommended focusing on hospital beds and oxygen availability. She said, “But the focus of the government was somewhere else.” She said, “After coming to power in 2014, the BJP government slashed the Health budget by 20 per cent and also announced plans to construct 15 new All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). None of the 15 new AIIMS are functional as of date.”
Besides Priyanka Gandhi, INC leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, P. Chidambaram and others criticised the Central Government for mishandling COVID-19 situation in India.
It is to be noted, India is the second worst COVID-19 hit nation with more than 2.8 crore positive cases of the Wuhan virus till date. The first COVID-19 worst hit nation is the United States of America (U.S.A.)
