JOIN USOpposition slams Goa CM's community survey plan to contain coronavirus
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant's plan to conduct a Bhilwara model-like exhaustive community survey to collect data related to COVID-19, has been criticised by the Opposition in Goa, which has demanded more community testing and screening process to be put in place instead.
Earlier this week, Sawant had proposed that the survey, expected to begin on April 13, would cover each and every household as well as industrial area and collect information to establish whether anyone who has entered Goa's borders since the global coronavirus outbreak began and record the presence of persons who are suffering from flu or other COVID-19 like symptoms.
"This door-to-door survey appears to be a piecemeal approach of the Goa governent fraught with lot of transmission risks. It isn’t clear what is the government's exact action plan," Opposition MLA and president of the Goa Forward party Vijai Sardesai said.
Sardesai called for a more comprehensive approach to the problem on the lines adopted by the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi.
"We as progressive and forward thinking Goans expect a comprehensive and concrete action plan like the one based on 5 Ts released by Delhi’s (Arvind) Kejriwal government, which is totally in line with the PCR (Preventive, Containement, and Remedial) measures suggested by GFP earlier," Sardesai said.
Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat too urged Sawant to reconsider the decision to start the community survey and urged the Chief Minister to provide PPEs and ventilators to hospitals instead.
"I urge the Goa Chief Minister to reconsider the decision of a community survey and take proactive steps to start community testing and screening to control further spread of coronavirus. Give PPEs to all frontline workers and provide hospitals with ventilators, equipment and medicines," Kamat said.
Reacting to the criticism Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday said that the survey plan had been put together by the state government's Directorate of Health Services and added that there was no political intent behind conducting the survey.
"The survey will help us in the future, as far as collation of community data about COVID-19 is concerned. This survey is not a political decision, it is taken in consultation with our Health Department team," Sawant said.