Karnataka Government hid 1.2 lakh COVID deaths: PAC

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) presented a report in the Karnataka Assembly on Monday, raising serious complaints about the management of the Covid-19 pandemic by the Department of Health and Family Welfare (DHFW), as per a report on The News Minute.

It levied various charges such as purchasing medicines at pumped-up prices, not monitoring the supply of medicines, and ensuring the completion of orders by companies entrusted in doing so and a procurement of medicinal supply even when not necessitated to do so. It further recommended strict action to be taken against the individuals concerned and highlighted the need for an unbiased enquiry into the matter. 

The committee led by Ramalinga Reddy, Congress MLA from BTM layout, conducted investigations over a period of 3 years to assess the validity of the misappropriation and malfeasance allegations made against the Health Ministry.

The committee pointed out various shortcomings in detecting the virus, sufficiency in testing the populace, time bound reporting of the test results and availability of medicine and oxygen for the patients.

The committee pointed out a sharp increase of 1.5 lakh deaths from January to July 2021 in comparison to the same time period in 2020. It pointed out that family members of the unreported deaths have a right to receive the compensation that is due to them. The committee found that orders for Ivermectin were placed even after WHO’s (World Health Organisation) warning against its usage and that the ventilators brought from the PM CARES fund were distributed to private hospitals.