Thiruvananthapuram: The Opposition staged a walk out in the Assembly on Friday in protest against what Opposition Leader V D Satheesan termed the government's refusal to publish the list of undeclared COVID-19 deaths before June 16.
During the last Assembly session, on June 2, Satheesan had revealed that the government had suppressed 7316 deaths. Later, the government conceded that there were undeclared deaths and from June 16, the reporting of deaths was shifted online.
On Friday, while moving an adjournment motion in the Assembly on undeclared COVID deaths, Congress MLA P C Vishnunath wanted to know why the government was still reluctant to publish the undeclared deaths before June 16. "On June 9, at a public meeting in Pathanamthitta, the minister said the list would be published in three days. Till now, the comprehensive list has not been published," Vishnunath said.
Health minister Veena George said that the government had nothing to hide and would publish the list. Besides, she said if families felt that their near ones have been left out, they could complain online through a portal created for the purpose. She said the portal would become functional by October 10.
The minister, however, did not specify when the comprehensive list would be published. But it could be inferred that the list would be up by October 10 as complaints could be submitted only if the list is available. Without a list how are affected families to know whether their close ones have been included or not. Satheesan but was not convinced about the minister's assurance.
In response to Vishnunath's jibe that she had promised to publish the list in three days way back on June 9, Veena George said the task was too complex to be completed in three days.
The health minister also conceded that there were anomalies in fixing deaths before June. She said this happened because there were many deaths that did not possess the requisite documents like the medical bulletin and lab reports. "This is why we shifted to online updation, " she said.
There were two other posers that were put to the minister, which she opted to avoid. Vishnunath wanted to know why the health minister was not making the state's sero surveillance report public. "You have been in possession of the report for some time. A total of 30,000 samples were taken from all the 14 districts. What prevents you from making it public," he asked.
The sero survey conducted by the Centre had earlier found the lowest number of people with antibodies in Kerala. This was held up as a triumph of Kerala prevention strategy and the low numbers infected was also argued as the reason for the galloping COVID numbers in Kerala during the second wave.
Vishnunath was hinting that the state's latest sero survey would have presented a completely new picture, perhaps near universal immunity. This would put the government in a difficult position as, even with high immunity by way of vaccination and infection, the second wave was not showing any signs of abatement in Kerala.
The second poser was about compensation for COVID deaths. Now, it is Rs 59,000, as fixed by the Centre. Both Vishnunath and Satheesan challenged Veena to announce a higher assistance. They said Bihar had announced Rs 4 lakh for the families of the death, and Karnataka Rs one lakh.
