Student bodies urge for collective effort to fight pandemic
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, August 12 2020:
The Socialist Students' Union of Manipur (SSUM), Reformist Students' Front (RSF) and All Mee tei Pangal Students' Union of Manipur (AMPSUM) have stated that collective effort is required to combat this COVID-19 pandemic and the accompanying crisis, effectively.
In a joint statement, the three bodies asked if doctors, nurses and supporting hospitals staff are still obeying their professional ethics at these trying times, or had the authorities/proprietors of hospitals ordered them to be oblivious to patients need, considering mat a few deaths have been reported from the State, due to alleged denial of treatments.
Saying that the pandemic has deteriorated the already 'bad' healthcare facilities available in the State as admittance in hospitals has become a difficult task now, they asked the State Government and department concerned to ponder about the condition of the healthcare system in hill districts if the situation is this bad in the valley.
They also asked about the conditions of COVID Care Centres which were set up exclusively for COVID-19 patients.
Continuing that the budget allocated for the Health Department in the country is very low, they asked if blaming healthcare professionals will solve healthcare-related problems that have been existing in the State for years.
The public should also study what the incumbent, as well as the past Governments, have done to improve the public health care system of Manipur, before giving any judgement, it added.
The three bodies also stated the virus was imported to the State by returnees from different cities, though not deliberately.
Lamenting that paying no attention to patients' needs by healthcare practitioners deserve condemnation in the strongest term, the three bodies urged hospitals' staff to stop seeing every patient as a carrier of coronavirus.