Protesting the alleged lack of proper treatment facilities for Covid-19 patients in the district, leaders and activists of the North Dinajpur CPI-M committee staged a demonstration on NS Road in Raiganj this afternoon.
Following the protests, they went to Karnajora, around 5 km away, and submitted a memorandum to the Chief Medical Officer of Health of North Dinajpur district, Dr Rabindranath Pradhan in his office.
They demanded proper treatment facilities for Covid patients with more isolation wards, testing centers and Covid hospitals. They also demanded that patients be given good quality food and they threatened to launch a movement in the district if the demands were ignored.
“The number of Covid patients in our district is rising and it has already reached around 900. There are only two Covid hospitals, one in Islampur and another in Raiganj, which are not adequate for the rising number of patients. We demanded that the CMOH open another Covid hospital with all modern facilities in Raiganj. Patients are not being given proper food in hospitals, which are also not very hygienic. We demanded that the patients be given good quality food and proper toilet facilities in Covid hospitals,” the Secretary of the CPI-M in North Dinajpur, Apurba Paul, said.
“We also urged the CMOH to reserve 25 percent beds in all private hospitals for the treatment of Covid patients. Fever clinic and isolation wards should also be introduced in all nine blocks of the district, while quarantine centres should be set up in all gram panchayats,” he added.
According to him, the telephone numbers of drivers of Covid ambulances must be made public.
“If our demands are not fulfilled, we will start a movement in the district,” Mr Paul said.
The CMOH of North Dinajpur, Dr Pradhan, however, said, “Covid patients are being taken care of properly in our district. We are still working to better the Covid management system in our district. Anyways, their demands will also be considered.”