It is time that the country embraces transparency in the handling of Covid-19 to restore the people’s faith in the system

Vaccination fraud in Mumbai, lakhs of fake RT-PCR tests during Kumbh and alarming reports about suppression of the real Covid-19 death count underline the need for robust mechanisms to ensure  transparency in the handling of data and diagnostics. At a time when mankind is reeling under the impact of one of the worst pandemics to hit the world, if reports of data fudging and fake vaccination continue to grow, people are bound to lose faith in the system. That could have disastrous consequences when cooperation of the masses is a must to deal with the deadly outbreak of the Coronavirus. It is shocking that it took four days — after the residents of a premier housing society in Mumbai alleged a fraud in the vaccination camp held by a private agency on their campus — for the Mumbai Police to nab five people for perpetrating such a heinous crime that poses a risk to hundreds of people. It’s equally surprising that no one from the housing society cared to check the credentials of the three persons claiming to represent two leading hospitals. The Rs 5 lakh fraud would have gone undetected if people had not found it unusual that none of the vaccinated people exhibited any after-effects related to the jabs.

Still worse is the case of allegations of a mega scam in the testing of samples of Covid-19 during the Kumbh in Haridwar. Former Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has rightly called for a judicial probe in the fraud and said that it was akin to attempt to murder. It is frightening to think that the results of the RT-PCR tests were manipulated and fake tests carried out only to give the impression that the Kumbh was a risk-free affair. The culprits and their patrons should be arrested and given exemplary punishments to curb such dangerous tendencies. In fact, similar reports of manipulation of Covid-19 test reports have also come in from Bihar and other parts of the country. That is the reason why the people have generally become sceptical about any data put forth by the Government to present the status report of Covid-19 in the country. The public is right. When people see that every household is affected by the pandemic and crematoriums are overflowing with bodies, and yet the authorities claim that India has one of the lowest death rates in the world, a certain amount of scepticism and anger are  natural. Media reports based on analysis of the annual death count in the pre and post-Covid era have clearly shown that States have suppressed the death count by as much as 30 to 40 times. The US-based health expert Dr Ashish Jha has also claimed that India’s death count could be in millions. It is time that the country embraces transparency in the handling of Covid-19 to restore the people’s faith in the system.

( Courtesy Pioneer )

It is time that the country embraces transparency in the handling of Covid-19 to restore the people’s faith in the system

Vaccination fraud in Mumbai, lakhs of fake RT-PCR tests during Kumbh and alarming reports about suppression of the real Covid-19 death count underline the need for robust mechanisms to ensure  transparency in the handling of data and diagnostics. At a time when mankind is reeling under the impact of one of the worst pandemics to hit the world, if reports of data fudging and fake vaccination continue to grow, people are bound to lose faith in the system. That could have disastrous consequences when cooperation of the masses is a must to deal with the deadly outbreak of the Coronavirus. It is shocking that it took four days — after the residents of a premier housing society in Mumbai alleged a fraud in the vaccination camp held by a private agency on their campus — for the Mumbai Police to nab five people for perpetrating such a heinous crime that poses a risk to hundreds of people. It’s equally surprising that no one from the housing society cared to check the credentials of the three persons claiming to represent two leading hospitals. The Rs 5 lakh fraud would have gone undetected if people had not found it unusual that none of the vaccinated people exhibited any after-effects related to the jabs.

Still worse is the case of allegations of a mega scam in the testing of samples of Covid-19 during the Kumbh in Haridwar. Former Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has rightly called for a judicial probe in the fraud and said that it was akin to attempt to murder. It is frightening to think that the results of the RT-PCR tests were manipulated and fake tests carried out only to give the impression that the Kumbh was a risk-free affair. The culprits and their patrons should be arrested and given exemplary punishments to curb such dangerous tendencies. In fact, similar reports of manipulation of Covid-19 test reports have also come in from Bihar and other parts of the country. That is the reason why the people have generally become sceptical about any data put forth by the Government to present the status report of Covid-19 in the country. The public is right. When people see that every household is affected by the pandemic and crematoriums are overflowing with bodies, and yet the authorities claim that India has one of the lowest death rates in the world, a certain amount of scepticism and anger are  natural. Media reports based on analysis of the annual death count in the pre and post-Covid era have clearly shown that States have suppressed the death count by as much as 30 to 40 times. The US-based health expert Dr Ashish Jha has also claimed that India’s death count could be in millions. It is time that the country embraces transparency in the handling of Covid-19 to restore the people’s faith in the system.

( Courtesy Pioneer )