Government unofficially relying on ‘herd immunity’ claims Manik

Former Chief Minister and leader of the opposition Manik Sarkar on Saturday took yet another swipe at the BJP led Tripura government as well as the centre claiming that both the government were unofficially waiting for the “herd immunity” factor to save them from this Covid pandemic. Sarkar, who had, on several occasions, brought the lapses related Covid treatments into the notice of the incumbent government also advised the government to counter the spread of this deadly virus in a strategic way as he felt “everything is still not lost”. 

In an exclusive interview with this reporter, Sarkar said, “the reason behind the spread of Covid 19 that has gained great momentum in recent times is primarily because of the lack of strategic planning, inadequacies in testing, and a large gap of preparations while the entire state even the whole country has been locked down.” 

To be very specific, he said, the way in the first phase random testings were done, it to an extent let the chain of contact for the virus to vanish when the attempt was to break it. Generally, if testing of each and everyone, who had returned from outer states were done, we would have faced a huge number of infected patients. We would have to toil a bit harder to cure them and the situation might have turned a bit difficult for a time being, but the deaths and infection spread could have been decreased, he added. 

But, he continued, the matters now stand pretty harrowing as cases are surging everywhere even in remote parts of the state as reported in the media. Rather than that he had also held lack of proper management of the situation equally responsible for the situation. “In the initial stage even today, the doctors, paramedics, nurses and everyone engaged in hospital duties cannot feel themselves safe from the virus. It is quite natural, when there are hundreds of Covid patients kept in a hospital and people are forced to discharge their duties in an adjacent or for that matter nearby ward without necessary protective gear, nobody will feel free to work. The situation is very similar in the topmost health body AIIMS. This is a sheer failure of the central government in ensuring protective (PPE) gear for all. And when the frontline warriors are coming in protest, they are being threatened with lawsuits, Manik pointed out.

When asked for his suggestions, he replied, every problem needs a holistic approach. “Both the state and the central government have no long term goals to address the issues. At a time when the economy is shrinking and a giant pandemic that has no close possible end is spreading in its highest possible pace, there is no effective step that has come up from the government. A responsive government should have sat with its excerpts from all the fronts health and economics to strategize the further course”. 

He said, “all the senior doctors should have been invited in a meeting to discuss the emerging problems. Since they are the people who know as to how this virus can be battled in comparison to politicians and bureaucrats. Joint platforms should have been set up to ensure mass awareness campaigns in the remote to remote parts of the state. At same time, people who are not paying taxes should have been entitled to some special schemes. As the Left has raised the demand of Rs 7,500 per month non tax-payers. Once you give money to the person who will spend in the markets, then the supply chain and the cycle of revenue generation will remain intact. But it is quite unfortunate to say this, the government has pulled out its hands and made tall claims one after another. Both the central and the state government are now relying on a hope--herd immunity and for which 50 percent of the country's population will have to get infected someday or the other”. 

He also included that even if the government was willing to help the people ensure strengthened immunity, it would have given the money in hands of people. “Experts say immunity is a solution. And, every day lakhs of jobless people are spending nights empty stomach. Tall claims in an empty stomach will make no difference in this situation”, said Sarkar.

Expressing his mind on the anti-incumbency factor in this regime, Sarkar said, “In the Left regime the only aspiration we cannot really meet is creation of jobs. Unemployment cannot be resolved at a pace it should be but otherwise, people have never distrusted us at any point of our regime. But, as it seems only 2 and a half hours has passed and people have already started losing faith in the government, the guardian in the larger sense. They (the ruling party) are losing their ground pretty fast”. 

He had also suggested that the government should divert funds from several other sectors where the spendings have lessened due to the pandemic and use it to strategize the fight against Covid 19 in an effective way.