Congress puts 9 questions to Centre, seeks compensation for kin of COVID-19 victims

The Congress party on Sunday posed nine questions to the Centre, demanding compensation to the family of those who died after battling with the coronavirus.

New Delhi [India], April 5 : The Congress party on Sunday posed nine questions to the Centre, demanding compensation to the family of those who died after battling with the coronavirus.

Stating that the party stands with the government against COVID-19 battle and will also light up lamps and candles, the Congress party said the questions asked are in the interest of the people of the country, not the criticism of the Centre.

Raising the issue of lack of personal protection equipment (PPE) kits or the safety equipment for health workers like doctors, nurses, ambulance workers across the country fighting the corona pandemic, the Congress asked how much time would the government take to supply PPE kits in a required quantity.

Congress spokesperson Sushmita Dev said that 50 doctors and nurses have been infected with corona so far and pictures of doctors wearing raincoats and helmets are emerging on social media. Therefore, the party has demanded the supply of 62 lakh PPE kits, which are needed across the country.

Earlier in the day, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi also spoke about the shortage of PPE kits. "There are reports of shortage of safety kits from many places. Our doctors, nursing staff, technicians, scavengers war in the war against corona. We all owe to keep them and their family safe."

In addition to the PPE kit, the Congress has asked a total of nine questions regarding the corona testing kit.

The Congress has asked that on February 27, the World Health Orgsation (WHO) had said that there is going to be a shortage of PPE kits. However, the Central government did not issue any instructions regarding the PPE till March 24.

"Why was it delayed? Apart from this, how many agencies have been set up for testing or approval of PPE kits," asked the Congress.

Repeating its demand to conduct more COVID-19 tests, the party asked about the numbers of test conducted so far to see if there was an increase.

It asked the Centre to make COVID-19 testing free. "For this, the number of agencies approving corona testing kits should be increased. Also, the rules of testing protocols should be flexible," the party suggested.

Highlighting that there are fewer ventilators available in the hospital for COVID-19 patients, the party said: "There are only 40,000 ventilators in the country, half of them do not work properly. Technicians are also needed to operate the ventilator. In view of this, what is the government doing to increase the number of ventilators and technicians amidst the corona epidemic?"

The Congress also demanded the Central government to compensate families of those who had lost their lives to the infection.

"Today at 9 pm, citizens will light 'diya' but the news which came in the morning that around 100 people have died due to corona what about that? Will the government give compensation to them," Dev said.She also told the Central government not to end the lockdown in "haste" and take future steps with proper "planning."The total number of coronavirus cases rose to 3,374 in India on Sunday, as per the data provided by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Out of these cases, 3030 are active cases, 267 have been cured or discharged, while 77 deaths have been reported so far in the country.

( With inputs from ANI )