Interacting with four Indian nurses from various parts of the world, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said governments are trying to manage perception and trying to give a sense that the Covid-19 problem is not as bad as it is. He said governments should accept the problem, define it accurately and then fight it.

One of the nurses, Vipin Krishnan, who works at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, feared that the number of tests have come down when the cases of infection have increased. He requested Rahul to raise the issues of nurses in the private sector, too, where job and wage losses are happening even during the pandemic.

Rahul assured that he will write to the governments on such issues. Rahul said he was surprised that testing wasn’t being allowed in many hospitals in Delhi.

‘Non-violent army’

The Congress leader lauded the work of healthcare professionals during the pandemic. He interacted with Anu Ragnat, a nurse working in New Zealand; Narendra Singh another nurse from Haryana working in Australia; Sherlymol Puravady, who is working in the UK and Krishnan from AIIMS.

“One of the doctors I was speaking to in a private hospital was telling me that it becomes impossible for them to work if they cannot test Covid patients. If they don’t know if the patient has Covid or not, they don’t know where to put him,” the former Congress president said.

Rahul said he is very proud of Indian nurses.

Krishnan pointed out that two nurses have died in Delhi and they were from South India. “One X-ray technician, one retired doctor from AIIMS passed away and one serving person in the sanitation department, we lost him unfortunately. However, they are yet to receive the compensation of ₹1 crore announced by the Delhi government,” Krishnan said.

“We are exhausted and we are fighting on the frontlines without any fear. We will win,” Krishnan added.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW