Tripura, August 4: The video of a COVID positive expectant woman criticising and attacking Ratan Lal Nath, the Education Minister of Tripura for labelling her as doing ‘publicity stunt’ after she pointed out the unhygienic conditions of a COVID centre in the state has gone widely viral on social media.
Rituparna Bhattacharya, a seven months pregnant lady, was admitted to the Sahid Bhagat Singh Youth Hostel COVID Care Centre in West Tripura after she tested positive for the virus on August 1.
In the beginning, she has alleged that there was no one to assist her to the room allotted for her treatment. Carrying all her luggage her herself, when she reached the 4th floor, she found the centre to be in a pitiable condition.
She recorded a live video from one of her social media handles which gave a detailed view of the poorly maintained COVID centre. She further elaborated on the poor conditions at the CCC- which included lack of medical support, neglect towards cleanliness and hygiene, no proper toilets and the list was endless.
She repeatedly mentioned the discomfort that she was facing, which she said was slowly bringing her morale down. People started aggressively sharing the content and criticising the authorities, which led the video to go viral. She was shifted to the GB hospital the same day at 10 PM in the night.
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Meanwhile, a local news channel broadcasted the video to which Ratan Lal Nath responded, calling it a mere publicity stunt, thereby nullifying all the allegations. She was also accused of being politically inclined towards other parties.
This further escalated the outrage as the pregnant woman made a second live video from GB on Sunday, slamming Tripura Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath.
She said “I did not expect such a response from Ratan Lal Nath, who is supposed to be a guardian figure to the state. It’s quite shameful that instead of looking into the complains, he went on to label my message, asking for a change, as a publicity stunt.”
She further added that the previous video was not politically motivated and only form the purview of a common citizen, facing difficulties in COVID treatment.
At a time when the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in widespread panic among the masses especially when it comes to ensuring maintenance of proper hygiene in the COVID19 Care Centres and Isolation Wards, allegations of negligence and ignorance against the Tripura government are proving to be grave causes of concern.
Despite repeated guidelines by states and the centre, lack of awareness and ignorance about hygiene in the corona times seem to be increasing with every passing day while hygiene is taking a backseat.
As Rituparna said, “I understand that people themselves create all the dirt and filth, but is it not the responsibility of the government to look into the cleanliness and provide hygienic conditions to the patients?”
