Gujarat's 41% health workers 'never tested' for Covid: Govt-supported IIM-A report

By Jag Jivan*
Even as providing clean chit to the Gujarat government for its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, a new report prepared by a research team headed by Prof Ranjan Kumar Ghosh of the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A) has found that a whopping 41% of health workers of the state reported that they were never tested for the dreaded disease.
The report, which has been prepared in close coordination with top state government officials belonging to the departments of labour and employment, climate change, information of broadcasting, food and civil supplies, and health, as also chairman of the state transport corporation, and the IG police (planning and modernisation), further admits that 22% of sanitation workers, 17% lab technicians, 16% doctors, and 10% nurses were never tested for Covid-19.
Titled ‘Management of the Covid-19 Pandemic in Gujarat: Understanding the government initiatives, leadership processes and their impact’, the report takes the help of an NGO – Trinity Education and Charitable Trust – and a Gujarat sports and youth department agency Swami Vivekananda Gujarat State Youth Board – for its online surveys, claims that “proactive decision of establishing dedicated Covid-19 hospitals in four major cities helped in timely treatment and recovery rate”.

Also claiming that there was “unhindered supply of food grains and essentials across the state ensured normalcy during the lockdown” and “schemes introduced to ensure migrants and those outside food security act also received regular rations”, report praises Gujarat police for its “exemplary work during the lockdown.”
It contends, “26% of all India’s migrants were transported safely back home through 1008 Shramik trains from Gujarat alone”, adding, citizens were are “mostly satisfied with the government’s approach”, with “more than 80% of people surveyed expressing satisfaction in CM’s leadership during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

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*Freelance writer

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