Assam MP and Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi on Wednesday said Assam government’s performance in addressing the Covid19 pandemic “remains unsatisfactory”.
“As per media reports and information available on official government websites, the government of Assam’s performance in addressing the pandemic remains unsatisfactory,” Kaliabor MP Gaurav Gogoi said in a statement.
Gogoi said, “According to statistics, released by the National Health Mission (NHM) in Assam, the number of Covid19-infected children (between 0-18 years) has increased by 96.67%, recording 17,457 cases in the first wave and 34,333 in the second wave.”
Regarding the vaccination, the parliamentarian said he wrote to the Assam chief minister on May 12, 2021 highlighting the alarming vaccine wastage in the state and the need to declare targets for vaccinating the majority population of Assam.
“The state government announced enhanced immunization drive from June 21, 2021 with a target of administering three lakh vaccinations daily for 10 days. It achieved the target only on two days with most days not even achieving the 2 lakhs mark,” Gogoi claimed.
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Moreover, an abysmal 10,347 doses were administered on June 27, 2021, he said.
The Congress leader said, “The state has been witnessing a shortage of vaccine supply which has adversely affected vaccination envisioned in the immunization drive.”
As reported by the media, the vaccination doses administered in in the Kamrup Metropolitan district reduced from around 25,000, recorded at the start of the drive, to about 12,000 now and in other vulnerable districts like Cachar and Dibrugarh, the corresponding figure has declined from around 15,000 to 7,000.
“Assam is in the bottom ten states, having vaccinated only 22.1% of its eligible population as of June 23. This is 4% lower than the national average of 26.1%,” the parliamentarian said.
“According to The Hindu’s Coronavirus India Tracker, as of June 29, 2021, Assam was amongst the bottom 10 states for vaccinating only 45.2% of its eligible population above 60 years,” Gogoi mentioned.
He said states like Rajasthan, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh have vaccinated more than 99% of their eligible
population above 60 years.
Regarding the Covid19 deaths in Assam, Gogoi said, “While Assam’s active cases reduced on June 29, 2021, it recorded an increase of 42 deaths, putting it in the top ten states with highest increase in deaths.”
“The state also witnessed a shocking 12 deaths in 24 hours at GMCH earlier this week,” he added.
The parliamentarian claimed the Covid19 mortality was “30 times the official Covid-19 death toll in these months”.
“According to media reports, deaths attributable to COVID-19, infections being detected posthumously, were not being referred to the death audit board,” the parliamentarian alleged.
“The procedure of declaring COVID-19 deaths should be revised and clarified. As witnessed in the state of Bihar,
an audit has highlighted immense under reporting of death numbers,” Gogoi further said.