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Opposition blames Govt. for cases, deaths

16 Aug 2021

  • JVP points to stats discrepancies
  • TNA slams Army’s role
  • SJB claims Govt. ignoring experts
By Pamodi Waravita  The country’s three main political parties in the parliamentary Opposition have placed the blame for the escalating Covid-19 cases and deaths on the Government, slamming it for allegedly not heeding the advice and warnings of the health authorities.  The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) yesterday (15) stressed that a proper plan for the future must be formulated based on accurate statistics and data.  “We are in doubt about the current statistics that the Government is presenting. Last week in the Gampaha District Covid-19 committee, it was reported that for the first nine days of August, 12,555 patients were reported in the District. This does not match the statistics given by the Epidemiology Unit. Does the President think that by hiding the accurate statistics, he would be able to save the country from this disaster?” questioned JVP Leader and Parliamentarian Anura Kumara Dissanayake. He added that according to the statistics from Friday (13), every nine minutes there is a Covid-19 death in the country and urged the Government to heed the call of health experts.  “Our general health system is not enough for the patients in the country even without a pandemic. Now, 50% of the health system has been dedicated to Covid-19 patients. Then what is going to happen to everybody else? It is also being reported that there is a shortage of pneumonia drugs at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL). Many healthcare workers are falling victim to the virus. All health experts are requesting a lockdown. When Minister of Health Pavithra Wanniarachchi had tried to present a report on the current pandemic situation in the country at last week’s cabinet meeting, the President had not let her do that. The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) has stated that if its recommendations had been implemented, 80% of the now over 5,000 deaths could have been prevented. Thus, those 80% of the deaths are murders for which the President is responsible for,” alleged Dissanayake.   Meanwhile, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Spokesperson and Parliamentarian President’s Counsel M.A. Sumanthiran, in a statement on Saturday (14), emphasised the importance of countering the virus by heeding the advice of public health experts.  “The Covid-19 situation is very grim at the moment in the country. The Government must take full responsibility for the situation that we are in now. When the spread began last year, the opposition parties together made several recommendations to the Government, none of which were adhered to. We asked for new laws to combat this situation so that the right people made the decisions according to the law. We could have ensured that the rule of law prevailed. Instead, the Government made ad hoc decisions and appointed a Task Force headed by the Army Commander. You cannot shoot the virus with your heavy artillery. The fight against Covid-19 and the vaccination process was not done properly, according to the advice of the health authorities. At least now, listen to the public health officials and lock down the country,” urged Sumanthiran.  The Samagi Jana Balawegeya (SJB) on Saturday (14) stated that the Government has failed to make decisions to control the escalating pandemic, instead choosing to stick to its previous decisions which are not effective for the current issue.  “Experts, professionals, and educated individuals are trying their best to advise the government. However, it is like attempting to play music to dead elephants. We are extremely disappointed in the behaviour of the government at the moment as they seem to be incapable of being sensitive to the people’s problems,” said SJB Parliamentarian Mujibur Rahman.  On 11 August, the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) Intercollegiate Committee wrote to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa about the need for “urgent action to introduce movement restrictions” due to the relentless escalation of the number of Covid-19 patients in the country.  The SLMA further requested the President to allocate vaccines which provide immunity after a single dose to all those over the age of 60 years and with comorbidities.  “Certain vaccines such as Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, and AstraZeneca evoke significant protection following a single dose of the vaccine, while a single dose of Sinopharm provides no protection until two weeks after the second dose is given. As there is a need for rapidly inducing immunity in high risk individuals, we consider vaccinating older people and those with comorbidities with the above-mentioned vaccines would save more lives,” the letter stated.  The World Health Organisation (WHO) has stated that the Delta (B.1.617.2) variant of the Covid-19 virus is at least two times as transmissible as the original virus. Sri Lanka is currently facing a severe spread of the Delta variant in all districts. The Health Promotion Bureau (HPB) said that 3,263 new cases and 160 new deaths were reported on Saturday due to the virus.


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