KATHMANDU: Nepali Congress Lawmaker Gagan Kumar Thapa has raised questions over Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli’s address to the nation delivered on Tuesday.
Thapa made his questions public through the social networking sites stating that a direct answer-question is not possible since the parliament is not in operation.
The following are the 11 questions put up by former Health Minister Thapa:
Honorable Prime Minister,
The speech you delivered against your unfavorable health condition during the address to the nation on Tuesday with an intention to instill positive vibes in Nepali people living at home and abroad in this time of crisis is appreciative.
Had the speech been delivered through the rostrum of the parliament, I would have asked you to clear some issues. Since the parliament is not in operation, you delivered it through a video conferencing from Baluwatar. I would like to put up some questions over your speech through social networking sites – the only available means to me at this time of crisis.
1. Respected Prime Minister, during your address to the nation, you stated that the government is making preparations to screen the coronavirus suspects through PCR technology at all 10 testing centers of seven provinces and through RDT in those districts of high risk. It is appreciative. But the experts have cast doubt over the testing quality of RDT and the people in general are worried over the adequate preparations. On what ground can the government make sure that these RDT testing kits and equipment are of good quality and efficient? Has the government prepared the protocol of RDT testing? What is the sample collections process and technique?
When and where will the government start rapid testing? How is the preparation for manpower, training and safety?
2. How is the condition of the contact tracing and record keeping?
How many staffers are in the team? Are they trained? Is there uniformity in the record keeping from across the country? What is the methodology of data analysis?
3. You said Nepali migrants stranded on Nepal-India borders have been quarantined in India. But many Nepalis migrants stranded along the border areas are still suffering from hunger, uncertainty and discrimination as scores have been kept at a single quarantine camp. Questing over the safety issue, hundreds have escaped from the quarantine camp to reach out to their respective villages risking their lives. How can the recordkeeping be effective when the Nepalis flee the quarantine stealthily? If the 30,000 quarantine beds are set up across the country, why don’t the government open few check points to allow those desperately trying to escape from the quarantine camps on Indian border areas?
4. Apart from those quarantined on Nepal-India borders, hundreds of Nepali migrants are stranded in many places of India. They are likely to come back to Nepal as soon as India government lifts the lockdown. What are the government’s plans and preparations to tackle the influx of Nepali migrants into Nepal?
5. What are the plans and preparations of the Nepali Embassies abroad for the safety and security of the Nepali migrant workers living in those countries for foreign employment?
6. Our media outlets have reported that many health workers deployed in the health sector have been deprived of minimum personal protective equipment (PPE) despite your statement that security items have been arranged. What is the condition of PPE, how long will it last?
7. Prime Minister has said that sufficient ‘medical goods and equipment including ventilator’ are being imported. What are the arrangements for manpower, equipment, drugs and infrastructure in the hospitals of the Kathmandu Valley and provinces for the treatment of patients with other ailments?
8. Like health workers, security personnel are equally vulnerable to COVID-19 as they have to also work on the frontline. What the government’s plans and arrangements for their safety and security?
9. You said the government has adopted a proper measure to give continuity to agriculture? What is the measure? Where and how is it being adopted?
10. The government has failed to properly utilize the state mechanisms. The expertise of the Nepal Army has not been utilized in this time of crisis. But Nepal Army has been asked to procure the medical goods when it should not have been involved in it. Do you think thee anxiety and fury expressed by the people over the irregularities and lapses seen in the procurement of medical goods and equipment are only unnecessary accusations?
11. You have got a good deal of support from the people in general including the opposition party. But there have been lapses in the construction of infrastructure. Won’t you blame it as the ‘propaganda operated based on vested-interest’ if I ask the government to move ahead by correcting some mistakes?
Finally,
Respected Prime Minister,
The self-confidence expressed in your address to the nation could not trigger sufficient positive vibes among the citizens in the country. People are prepared for continuation of the lockdown but the government’s move to bail the country out of this current crisis by providing relief to the daily wage earners looks fishy.
Nonetheless, I would like urge one and all to extend support to the government leadership at this time of global crisis caused by coronavirus pandemic.
Gagan Kumar Thapa, Member of House of Representatives.
April 8, 2020
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