Indore doctor dies of COVID-19, testing kits and PPEs still awaited, admit Health Ministry official

Dr Shatrughan Panjwani (62) passed away in Indore on Thursday morning of COVID-19. He was a general physician and had two clinics in the city. According to reports he was consulted by a family, a member of which had tested positive.

Unconfirmed reports said that at least one more doctor and a nurse in the city had tested positive and were undergoing treatment in different hospitals.

Health Ministry officials, meanwhile, admitted that the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) ordered by the Government were yet to be delivered. Nor had the testing kits being requisitioned from other countries including China had arrived. Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health Lav Agarwal told the media that millions of PPEs had been ordered but was not able to say when they would be delivered.

The official said that not everyone needed a PPE and asked the media not to create a panic over the shortages. While he also confirmed that the Government had ordered 49,000 ventilators, once again he could provide with no clarity about when they would be delivered. The 2.5 lakh testing kits being imported, however, could be arriving any day, he added.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the Centre has asked states not to procure PPEs (masks, suits, eye shields, gloves etc.) or ventilators at their level. In a circular issued on April 2 and sent to the states, they have been told that the Centre would procure and distribute them to the states.

However, Dr Panjwani, a private practioner, might not have been able to acquire the protective gear even if the Government had succeeded in taking delivery. Because the Government is not giving such gear to everyone in government hospitals either.

CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury tweeted, “ In the last week, there’s been little increase, if any, in availability of ventilators & PPEs. What is the purpose of lockdown if these basics not increased on a war-footing? Modi govt has failed to provide answers, hiding behind distractions, fudging data”

Doctors in Telangana and at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi had issued an unusual public appeal to the people, asking them to donate protective gear since the government hospitals were finding it difficult to procure them.