The team deputed by the Union government to assess the ground situation in West Bengal have so far been visiting different COVID-19 centres in Kolkata on Thursday, a day after the Mamata Banerjee government said it would co-operate with the team.
The TMC government had been accused of obstructing the central team, while the state government dismissed such accusations.
PTI reported that the number of cases in West Bengal is said to be at 456 while the death toll is at 15.
Centre team visits Rajarhat, MR Bangur
The team, which had landed in Kolkata on Monday, went to the quarantine centre in Rajarhat and then to MR Bangur Hospital, which has also been turned into a COVID-19 Centre.
Anandabazar.com reported that at the Rajarhat centre, the members of the team interacted with the patients who have been admitted and held a meeting with the doctors and other health workers who are taking care of the COVID-19 patients.
They were accompanied by the officials of the health department of West Bengal.
The report said that the representatives of the Union government checked if proper guidelines were being followed.
PTI reported that on Wednesday the team sought a detailed presentation from the Mamata government on the if the enough tests were being conducted in the state and on whether there was enough oxygen, ICU beds and ventilators available.
The team is being led by Apurba Chandra, a senior bureaucrat in the Ministry of Defence.
The second central team in North Bengal, however, is yet to begin field visits, PTI reported.
They want to visit hotspots
The team led by Chandra has reportedly written to Bengal chief secretary Rajiva Sinha asking for a visit to all the hotspots in the state.
The Telegraph reported that the team wanted to visit all the COVID-19 hospitals in Kolkata, markets in the city and other areas marked as hotspots such as Howrah, East Medinipur, North 24-Parganas.
According to the report, in Kolkata they wanted to visit Belgachia Basti, Tangra-Dhapa, Bowbazar and Burrabazar, and two wards in the Garden Reach areas.
The Telegraph quoted a source as saying, “The team made it clear that they wanted to take detailed note at the ground level. It is not possible for a police officer to brief the team on all these details.”
Mamata dismisses allegations on tests
On the day that the Mamata Banerjee government agreed to co-operate with the central teams, the chief minister said that talks of very few people being tested in Bengal was false and blamed it on faulty kits sent by the centre.
PTI quoted her as saying, “Canards are being spread every day that only a few are getting tested in Bengal for COVID-19. This is absolutely false. Faulty kits were sent to Bengal which have now been withdrawn. We didn’t even get adequate testing kits.”
Banerjee also criticised the Union government for sending teams to look into West Bengal’s preparedness for tackling the COVID-19.
Banerjee said all rapid testing kits sent to West Bengal had been withdrawn by the Union health ministry, while the National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED), the Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) nodal agency in the state, mailed to the state government on April 21 asking it not to use the BGI RT-PCR kits.
There are three types of kits, rapid testing, BGI RT-PCR and antigen, she said adding that the first two types have been withdrawn by the Centre and antigen kits are not available in Bengal hospitals.
Banerjee said there should not be any delay in testing a COVID-19 patient as per the ICMR recommendations, but stressed that it is difficult to treat coronavirus-affected people without adequate testing kits.
She also alleged that the Centre did not provide to the state adequate number of swab kits required to test whether a case is positive or not.
The state is using swab kits procured by it, Banerjee said, adding that she did not understand the central agencies’ plans to fight the pandemic.
On reports of low number of PPE kits, the chief minister said that the Centre provided only 7,000 PPE kits. The state government, meanwhile, distributed 4,19,000 PPE kits procured by it, she said.
“Every day they (Centre) are telling us what to do and what not to do, sending people to look into the law and order situation and our preparedness against coronavirus. They are sending us strongly worded letters. We can also send them letters. But that’s not the point,” she said.
No phones on COVID hospitals
In yet another bizarre move, the West Bengal government has said that no mobile photos will be allowed in COVID-19 hospitals saying they can be sources of spreading the virus.
A report in The Telegraph said that according to the government order this rule was applicable to all patients and on duty staff.
“Each patient has to deposit his or her mobile phone before entering the hospital and they would be given a receipt. The authorities have to install a landline with STD calling facility for patients,” said a source told the newspaper.
However, the report cited unnames sources as saying that the decision was taken after videos shot by patients inside state government hospitals were used by the BJP against the Mamata Banerjee government.
(With PTI inputs)