New Delhi, July 22 Rashtriya Janata Dal's Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Kumar Jha on Wednesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising concerns over the flood situation in several parts of Bihar and the surge in the number of coronavirus cases in the state.
In his letter to the Prime Minister in Hindi, Jha said, "There was already a lot of concern about Covid-19. But Bihar suffered a double whammy due to the floods during the Covid-19 situation." The situation of health sector is critical in Bihar and the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the state a lot. Stressing on the rise in the number of Covid-19 cases, the RJD leader said that every day the number of Covid-19 patients in Patna and adjoining districts is going up while still there is no adequate number of tests.
He also pointed out that there are very few committed Covid-19 centres in the state. Jha further alleged that the results of the Covid-19 tests were not being made available to the people for several weeks and even the personal protective equipment (PPE) kits are not available to doctors in many districts. Talking about the floods, the RJD leader said that due to floods many people are unable to follow social distancing.
He further pointed out that most of the migrant workers have returned to the flood-affected districts of the state. Jha further said that the floods will only make the situation explosive in the state in absence of proper sanitation and clean drinking water in the flood-affected areas. About 4.13 lakh people in eight districts have been affected due to the floods in the state.
Earlier in the day, RJD President and former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav toured the flood affected areas in Darbhanga and Madhubani districts. According to the Union Health Ministry data, there are 28,952 Covid-19 cases in Bihar.
( With inputs from IANS )