The Congress on Wednesday accused the government of “diluting” the COVID-19 testing guidelines and said its revised rules, which allow a patient to be discharged without undergoing final tests for coronavirus, will prove disastrous for the country.
Congress spokesperson Sushmita Dev said the new guidelines could put India in the same situation as the United States and Europe, which have seen a spurt in COVID-19 cases.
She demanded a reversal of the new discharge policy.
She told reporters at a press conference through video conference that the government is trying to hide its own failures of not being well-prepared to fight the pandemic by not testing coronavirus patients at the time of discharge from hospitals.
“What is the justification that COVID-19 patients with mild or moderate symptoms will not be tested at the time of discharge from hospitals or care centers. This one single policy of discharge without testing will be disastrous for the country. This must be reversed immediately as people cannot be allowed to suffer as the government of India did not adequately prepare itself,” she added.
She alleged favoritism and “pick and choose policy” by the central government in granting licences for manufacturing ELISA and PPE kits.
“There should be transparency in the process of allowing PPEs manufacture. Is the government picking and choosing people in doing so?” she asked.
The Congress leader feared India could join the US and Europe and see a spurt in coronavirus cases within the next two weeks if the government did not change the new testing guidelines.
“The government is trying to hide its own shortcomings of having less testing kits and do not want the country to know how many people have tested positive for coronavirus, she said.
“Government’s Make in India policy had failed even before the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.”
“Every time the BJP government talks of “Swadeshi”, it wants to hide its own failures,” she said.
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