By Our Political Analyst
The ill-preparations made by the communist government to tackle the coronavirus pandemic in the past six months have now become costly for the people and the country.
Blame for the worsening situation surely goes to the short-sightedness of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli and his team in the government.
PM Oli himself did not take the COVID-19 pandemic seriously in the beginning. Instead, he took the virus as a shield to save his government mired by one corruption scandal after another and rift within his party—Nepal Communist Party–by imposing lockdown so that his opponents could not take to the streets.
He should have used the four months of lockdown beginning from March 24 to upgrade the health system by adding hospital beds, ventilators and ICU wards as well as isolation wards. But he did not do that. He simply told the people to take turmeric powder and warm water and the local levels to build quarantines, which they built but with the poor facility, as result, many of the quarantines turned into death traps and source to spread the virus. Moreover, the local levels blew all their budgets in constructing and managing the quarantines. The government showed no seriousness to revamp the poor health system and rescue the Nepalis from abroad. Even after six months, many Nepalis are waiting in different countries for their rescue.
Instead of making required preparations to tackle the pandemic, PM Oli used the four months to consolidate his strength in the party by resorting to different legal and unethical moves while his ministers, aides and the corrupt employees took the opportunity to make fast bucks. The corruption in the purchase of medical equipment in the direct involvement of the men in the PM secretariat at the beginning of the pandemic gave a wrong message that the government would not work honestly to save lives from the pandemic. No one was punished for the crime, and today the people’s perception which they had had immediately after they read news about the corruption in the procurement of medical supplies that the control of the COVID-19 by the incumbent government is impossible has now turned into a reality.
Only after the COVID-19 entered the Kathmandu Valley infecting over 6200 people, of them over 5200 in Kathmandu district alone, and killing scores, the government on Monday decided to build 2,000 quarantine beds. And it is almost sure by the time the quarantine facility is prepared, thousands other people will be infected and died.
Because of the poor preparations, it made over the four months of the lockdown, the government has again imposed a second edition of lockdown throwing people’s cultural, economic and social activities in the limbo. Popular festivals like Indrajatra, and Ratomachhindranath Jatra, Bisket and other several jatras were put off for the first time in history due to pandemic. The fate of Dashain and Tihar, the two big festivals of all Nepalis is still uncertain.
Many people have lost their jobs. The vehicles are off the road for six months, airlines have grounded their planes, factories are closed and the country has lost billions of rupees due to closure of businesses and other activities. Students have been unable to continue their studies for six months and they are losing one academic year.
The government has extended the closure of domestic flights and road transportation till September 16 although the international flights partly resumed from Monday, 1 September. The Cabinet meeting also decided not to open schools and other academic institutions until 16 September.
No sign in the decline of the infection has been there when around 1000 new cases are being detected across the country with nearly half of them in the Kathmandu Valley. As of Tuesday, COVID-19 national tally has reached 40, 529 with 239 deaths.
As the health experts have already warned that the infection in the Kathmandu Valley and other several districts is due to community transmission, the situation is sure to worsen for the days to come. But the government has done nothing rather than imposing restrictions. And the people are also to be blamed as they often tend to defy the health protocols by crowding in market places and streets. Many do not wear masks popery.
People’s Review Print Edition
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