My Opinion

In the second round of top military level talks that went on late into the night for 11 hours on Monday, India clearly told China to withdraw its troops from Indian territory in Pangong lake area of Ladakh and remove its military build-ups in areas facing Galwan valley, Gogra-Hot Springs, Depsang and Chushul.

India reiterated its demand for restoration of status quo as it existed in mid-April, which implies that the Chinese army should withdraw its troops from Finger 4 to 8 on the northern bank of Pangong lake. There was no official word on the outcome of the talks between 14 Corps commander Lt Gen Harinder Singh and Chinese PLA Major General Liu Lin. At the meeting, the Indian corps commander expressed anger over the barbaric attack on Indian troops by Chinese soldiers in Galwan valley.

In Delhi, Army chief Gen M M Narwane on Monday reviewed with senior commanders the operational ground situation and preparedness of our forces along the entire Line of Actual Control. This meeting will continue on Tuesday.

The overall morale of Indian troops is very high and they are raring to teach the Chinese a lesson for their treacherous attack which took a toll of 20 Indian jawans including a Colonel. The army chief will be visiting Ladakh soon to meet commanders and boost the morale of jawans.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh left for Moscow on a three-day trip to attend World War II Victory Day Parade scheduled for Wednesday. Rajnath Singh will be meeting his Russian counterpart and is expected to press for fast-tracking supply of weapon system and spare parts for Sukhoi and MiG aircrafts, T-90 main battle tanks and Kilo class submarines. India will request Russia to airlift these spare parts instead of shipping them by sea routes. India may also ask Russia to expedite delivery of the five squadrons of S-400 Triumf surface-to-war missile systems under the $ 5.43 billion deal signed in 2018.

On Tuesday, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will be participating in the Russian-India-China foreign minister level meeting through video conferencing, in which both the Russian and Chinese foreign ministers will take part. India has already made it stand clear: that it wants peace, but China must make amends for its transgressions and treacherous attack.

Indian armed forces are fully prepared to face any eventuality and round-the-clock vigil continues along the LAC. Presently, China has amassed nearly 23,000 troops in Galwan valley along with hundreds of infantry combat vehicles and armoured vehicles. These troops have set up tents and have come fully prepared. India has also deployed a sizeable number of troops to counter the Chinese challenge through mirror deployment.

China has taken aggressive postures against Japan and Taiwan also. Its bomber jets have entered Taiwan’s air space eight times in the last two weeks. China has also warned Japan of reprisal for renaming disputed islands claimed by both countries.

Clearly, China now finds itself in a tight corner and its leadership is desperately preparing to fight on many fronts. On the other hand, big powers of the West have openly extended their support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India is confident of facing the Chinese challenge, and if there is any misadventure on part of the enemy, Indian forces are going to carry out a swift and decisive retaliation.

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At the all-party meeting on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an emphatic remark. He said, “no intruder is present inside India’s borders, nor is any post under anyone’s custody”. On the Monday night clash in Galwan valley, the Prime Minister said, “our 20 soldiers attained martyrdom in Ladakh but they taught a lesson to those who tried to intimidate our motherland….Today we have the capability so that none can dare to look towards us with ill intention”.

Almost all opposition leaders, barring Congress President Sonia Gandhi, offered strong support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Congress president raised several questions relating to Chinese incursions in Ladakh and sought the Prime Minister’s reply. However, senior leaders like NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, and YSR Congress chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy said this was not the time to raise such issues and all political parties should present a united face to counter Chinese aggression.

The questions that Sonia Gandhi raised were: “On which date did the Chinese troops intrude into our territory in Ladakh? When did the government find out about the Chinese transgressions into our territory? Was it on May 5th, as reported, or earlier? Does the government not receive, on a regular basis, satellite pictures of the borders of our country? Did our external intelligence agencies not report any unusual activity along the LAC? Did the Military Intelligence not alert the government about the intrusion and the build-up of massive forces along the LAC, whether on the Chinese side or on the Indian side? In the government’s considered view, was there a failure of intelligence?”

The questions raised by Congress president made other opposition leaders uncomfortable. Most of them said, this was not the time and place for politicizing such an issue.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar said, it was not proper to ask whether our jawans were unarmed or not. “We should avoid such matters now as this is not the right time.” Pawar is a senior opposition leader and former Defence Minister and he knows what he is saying. He knows the intricacies of how the armed forces work.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said, we have a strong leadership at the Centre and if any enemy country dares to browbeat us, we have the capacity “to gouge out their eyes”, and China must understand this.

Mamata Banerjee, known for her strident anti-Modi postures, too, said all parties must sink their political differences and support the Centre on whatever steps are taken to counter Chinese incursions. “We must chase the Chinese out of our territory and also end Chinese domination in our economy, whether railway, aviation, or telecom.

Even the DMK, a known pro-Congress ally, openly supported the Centre over the Ladakh issue. Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav and BSP supremo Mayawati also offered support to any decisions taken by the Centre to counter the challenge from China.

The Prime Minister replied emphatically to each question raised by Sonia Gandhi. He said, India has told China clearly that we want peace, but China must also know that India knows how to defend its territory.

Modi said, such a situation arose because earlier nobody used to question Chinese transgressions on the LAC, but now we have strengthened our infrastructure and have increased patrolling. It is because of these crucial steps that we detect transgressions by Chinese troops easily, and it is because of this China seems to be worried.

Let me tell you why Modi said that Chinese transgressions on LAC were not questioned in the past. In 2013, during the UPA rule, the then Defence Minister A. K. Antony had said, it is a historical truth that we did not create infrastructure on the border since independence. He said, the policy at that time was to leave the border area undeveloped, as this was much safer than a border with developed roads. It was because of this policy that airfields and roads were not built near the LAC.

It was Antony as Defence Minister, who had said in 2013 during UPA rule in Lok Sabha that China was far ahead of India in matters of infrastructure and capability. The result was: Chinese troops carried out incursions in Ladakh, and for 21 days, we had to literally beg the Chinese to withdraw.

This is not the case now. Modi said on Friday that we have strengthened our border road infrastructure near LAC and this was now yielding dividends. Patrolling by Indian troops has become easier. It was because of our patrolling that our troops came to know about Chinese incursions in Galwan valley and other areas. Now the Chinese aggressors are being stopped and their commanders are being questioned about violation of the sanctity of LAC.

I would not have mentioned Antony’s remarks in 2013, had not Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi raised questions about LAC. They should remember that it was their government at that time and their Defence Minister was making such remarks in Parliament.

And what do we have today? We have a confident, decisive Prime Minister at the helm. The Prime Minister is saying that India will repay in their own coin if any country meddles with our territorial integrity. The nation is proud of our brave and valiant jawans and their officers. Our defence forces have the capability to face the enemy. This is quite evident on the ground. On Friday, fighter jets and attack helicopters carried out many sorties near the LAC, keeping a hawk’s eye on Chinese troop movement.

China has now clearly realized that this is not the old India. This new India has a strong, decisive leader Narendra Modi, who had earned respect among world statesmen, and has enhanced India’s image in the international arena. China now understands that the entire political fraternity stands solidly behind its Prime Minister.

On the other hand, China has rogue nations like North Korea and Pakistan as allies. The world’s most powerful democracy,the United States, stands solidly with the world’s most populous democracy, India. China failed to get support in the UN Security Council, when it tried to raise the issue of abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.

India’s overall attitude has now changed. India has changed the manner in which it used to deal with China. Modi’s India has shown how our jawans can act if they are attacked treacherously by the Chinese. Modi’s India has shown how it can carry out surgical strikes and bomb Balakot inside Pakistan, if terrorists blow up our CRPF vehicle.

Modi tried his best to extend his hand of friendship towards China, like he did with Pakistan. But the whole world now knows how devious the Chinese are. The world knows, how China spread the deadly Coronavirus across the world. The world knows how China manipulated COVID statistics and the WHO. Countries like Japan and the US are today giving incentives to their companies to come out of China. The same voices are now being heard in India, and the “boycott Chinese goods” movement is gaining pace.

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Ever since the treacherous attack by Chinese troops on Indian army took place in Galwan valley on Monday night, there have been many rumours circulating on social media, and it is shocking that some of our national level leaders also believe some of these rumours to be true.

On Thursday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted: “How dare China kill our UNARMED soldiers? Why were our soldiers sent UNARMED to martyrdom?” External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar tweeted in reply: “Let us get the facts straight. All troops on border duty always carry arms, especially when leaving post. Those at Galwan on 15 June did so. Long standing practice (as per 1996 and 2005 agreements) not to use firearms during faceoffs.”

Rumours were circulated in social media that 35 to 40 jawans are missing and probably taken captive by Chinese army. The Indian army replied: “It is clarified no Indian troops are missing in action. All are accounted for.”

A picture of a rusted iron rod studded with nails was posted by some journalists on social media claiming these were used by Chinese troops on our jawans. The army clarified that no such weapons have been recovered from the Chinese.

On the casualty figures, the army late on Thursday night clarified, only 20 army personnel martyred, and nobody is presently critical in hospital. There are 18 soldiers presently in Leh army hospital, who will be rejoining duty within 15 days. 58 injured soldiers are in other base hospitals and will be returning to duty within a week. A total of 96 army jawans and officers came under impact during the Chinese attack. On one hand, our army is fully transparent, and on the other, the Chinese government is yet to admit that 43 of its soldiers died in the clash and a large number of other troops have been injured.

There are too many lies circulating on social media and Indians need to remain on guard. One rumour said, our jawans at the LAC did not have body suits and snow boots to withstand cold weather in Ladakh, and these were airlifted from Mumbai. There were rumours about how the Chinese troops intruded 20 kilometres (some said 60 km) into Indian territory and occupied our area.

All such rumours are baseless. The ground reality is that our armed forces – Army, Navy and Air Force – are presently in a state of operational readiness to guard our airspace and land and sea frontiers against any misadventure. The Chinese already know that they would be getting a ‘befitting reply’ for their aggression.

The government is now pro-active both on the diplomatic as well as strategic fronts. On one hand, talks are being held with China, and on the ground, our armed forces have increased their surveillance. Army and Air Force radars have been activated on the frontiers, fighter jets and helicopters are keeping watch on the Line of Actual Control, and naval warships are being deployed at strategic locations. Non-stop aerial surveillance is on all across the LAC from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh, combat helicopters are carrying out recce missions, and all movements of Chinese army are being taken note of.

On Thursday, there were talks with the Chinese at the Major General level with Maj. Gen. Abhijit Bapta of Trushul division leading. The talks were positive, but inconclusive. Maj. Gen. Bapta was assisted by Brigadier, Operations and Colonel, Operation along with a Chinese interpreter. India has lodged its strong protest over the Chinese attack. The Indian side has clearly told the PLA to move back to its original positions as existed in April, and only then the situation would ease. The talks will continue.

I spoke to several senior army officers who have worked near the LAC and asked about Rahul Gandhi’s charge that our jawans were sent unarmed to embrace martyrdom. They pointed out that whenever our jawans go on patrolling on LAC, they never go without weapons, but there is a long-standing agreement between India and China, that no shots shall be fired on the LAC. I am surprised why Rahul Gandhi failed to understand this. He may now ask why our soldiers did not go with nail-studded clubs and stones, if they cannot fire a shot. Well, there have been casualties on both sides. If our 20 jawans were martyred, the Chinese lost 43 troops. How did our brave soldiers did this? Of course, they’re trained to retaliate.
I am also surprised over the remarks of Capt Amarinder Singh, the Punjab chief minister. He questioned, “why no orders to fire at the Chinese were given to our jawans” in the face of a brutal attack. Capt Amarinder Singh says,” if the unit was armed, as is being claimed now, the second-in-command should have ordered firing, the moment the Commanding Officer fell to Chinese treachery.” The Captain is a mature leader, he has been in the army, but he gave his reactions on basis of what he saw on tv channels,without checking out facts with the army.
In times of crisis like this, we should project a united face before the world. The entire nation, the government, and all political parties stand united behind our army, and this is not the right time to level accusations. The entire nation must stand rock solid behind the leadership of our Prime Minister. He is our supreme leader, elected by countrymen. The Prime Minister has already said, that the sacrifice of martyrs will not go in vain. So, let us stay united in this hour of crisis.
The nation is confident that our armed forces are strong, preparations are afoot to face one of the world’s super powers. India does not want war, we want peace. The whole world now knows the real intentions of the Chinese army, known for its treachery. If China does not follow the path of persuasion, and refuses to return to its original positions that existed in April in Ladakh, we should teach the Chinese in a language that they understand better.

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As the coffins of 20 Indian army martyrs moved to their native places on Wednesday, a tearful nation paid homage to the brave warriors who gave the supreme sacrifice in defence of the motherland. The coffins were sent to Samastipur, Hyderabad, Patna, Meerut, Mayurbhanj, Patiala, Gurdaspur, Madurai, Rewa, Birbhum, Sahibganj, Kanker, Kandhamal, Hamirpur, Sangrur, Mansa, Bhojpur, Saharsa, Vaishali, East Singhbhum. There were emotional moments among family members, even as local villagers demanded that India must retaliate.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his opening remarks to Chief Ministers at a video conference on COVID situation, said, the sacrifice of our martyrs will not go in vain. He vowed that India will firmly protect every inch of the country’s land and its self-respect. Modi said, for us, India’s integrity and sovereignty is supreme and no one can stop us from defending it. “Nobody should have any iota of doubt about this.”

The Prime Minister also said, “India wants peace, but if provoked, India will give a befitting reply.” These were measured words delivered in a balanced manner by the Prime Minister in the nation’s hour of grief.

On the other hand, China adopted a belligerent attitude. Its foreign minister Wang Yi, during telephonic talk with our External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar asked India “to probe the conduct of Indian troops for crossing the LAC and severely punish those responsible.” Wang Yi went further and said, “India must not misjudge the situation or underestimate China’s firm will to safeguard its territorial sovereignty.”

In response to the Chinese foreign minister’s belligerent words, our EAM Jaishankar responded sharply and said, “premeditated and planned action by Chinese troops was directly responsible for the violence and this unprecedented step will have a serious impact on bilateral relations.” He said, “the need of the hour is for China to reassess its actions and take corrective steps”.

What Jaishankar said was correct. The Chinese soldiers had come prepared to Galwan valley carrying iron rods, blades and sharp stones and their intent was to suddenly attack Indian jawans. Though our jawans were not prepared for this sudden attack, they fought back valiantly, and additional reinforcements joined in the fight inflicting heavy casualties on the Chinese side. The Chinese foreign minister’s anger was clearly over the casualties that their army has faced.

The people of India salute the valiant martyrs who gave their supreme sacrifice and refused to yield an inch of land. The measured words that Prime Minister Modi used in his remarks will send a clear signal to the Chinese leadership.

India will respond, at a time and place of its own choice. The Chinese know this, and are therefore resorting to many subterfuges. For 36 hours, they did not admit that their army had suffered big casualties, and instead blamed India for the violence. The Chinese know that the world will not accept its lies, and in order to obfuscate issues, circulated a propaganda video of a military drill to claim that Chinese troops are carrying out exercises to stop “Indian incursions” in Galwan valley.

On Ground Zero, both sides have disengaged from the flash point area in Galwan valley, and there was three-hour long talk between Major Generals of both armies on Wednesday, but this did not yield results. The satellite images from Planet Labs on June 16 clearly show how China had amassed more than 250 trucks and other military equipment in Galwan valley. There is tension in the area and the armies on both sides are on almost war-like alert along the LAC.

Looking at the mourning faces of relatives of our martyred jawans, every Indian’s blood is today boiling with anger. The entire nation wants that China must be taught a lesion so that it may never carry out such misadventure in future. For the sake of our martyrs, it is our collective responsibility to remain united, irrespective of political thinking, and stand firmly behind Prime Minister Modi in this hour of crisis.

The message must go to the families of martyrs that the entire nation stands united behind them and is prepared to give China a taste of its own medicine. India’s economy has already suffered a lot due to the COVID pandemic and lockdown, and another conflict with China may cause more losses to the economy. But we have to retaliate, come what may, at any cost, and our Prime Minister said so in so many words, that the sacrifices of our martyrs will not go in vain.

China’s allegation that Indian troops crossed the LAC and entered their territory is a plain white lie. The Indian army commander with hardly 50 jawans was supervising the withdrawal of Chinese troops, but the Chinese had come with murderous intentions. The whole world has seen how China stabbed India in the back in 1962 after chanting “Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai” slogans, and how it attacked Indian troops in 1967 in Nathu La on Sikkim border. China will have to pay the price for its treachery. This is a New India, not the India of 1962, when its army suffered reverses on the battle front.
China knows the strength of the Indian armed forces and it also knows India has a strong political leadership. The question is: why did China opt for the path of confrontation? Why did its troops treacherously attack our jawans?

The answer: China is worried that India has chosen the path of self-reliance (atma nirbharta) to become an economic power and it has changed its FDI policies to attract foreign companies. China knows that India is trying to attract multi-national corporations that are leaving China in the wake of COVID pandemic. Naturally, the Chinese leadership is looking towards India warily.

There are also domestic pressures in China due to economic losses it has suffered in the wake of the pandemic. China now wants to show to the world that the Big Powers cannot harm it, come what may. China wants to tell the world that a rising economic superpower India can never be a big challenge.

China was unhappy that the US President wants to include India in the Group of 7 summit. China does not want India and the US to come together. Already, the Chinese are facing worldwide criticisms over Hong Kong and Taiwan issues.

It is because of these reasons that China wants to flex its military might by creating tension on the Indian border. It also wants to divert attention of the Chinese people towards border dispute, but the Chinese leadership has probably failed to realize that the India of 2020 is not the India of 1962.

The Chinese saw how India did not stop construction of road near the LAC, and deployed army and air force to counter the Chinese threat.

On top of it, India’s Prime Minister and External Affairs Minister made tough remarks in the face of Chinese belligerence. The Prime Minister issued a clear warning to China, and our External Affairs Minister replied to his Chinese counterpart in a matching tone. The Chinese leadership did not expect that the Indian army would inflict heavy casualties and the Indian Prime Minister would adopt a tough stance.

China will now have to retreat from Galwan Valley because its planning has failed. China has realized that very few countries support it on the border issue in the international arena. China cannot win a war against India nor can it win a diplomatic battle with India. The Chinese leadership will soon realize that it will have to pay a big price for its misadventures.

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In one of the bloodiest clashes near the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh on Monday night, 19 Indian army jawans and a Colonel of Bihar Regiment gave their supreme sacrifice. Blood was spilled on LAC after a long gap of 45 years, when Chinese troops, while retreating in Galwan Valley, suddenly attacked our officers and jawans with iron rods, nail spiked lathis and stones.

It goes to the credit of our valiant officers and jawans that they promptly retaliated resulting in 43 Chinese casualties. Not a single shot was fired. The nation salutes Col. B. Santosh Babu for giving the ultimate sacrifice in the service of the nation. We also salute all the martyred jawans who died while fighting this pitched battle that began at dusk and ended around midnight.

Talks between India and China are presently going on at several levels, but this worst clash raises questions about China’s ulterior motives. The overall picture since April this year in Ladakh has been one of deception and audacious treachery on part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.

First, their troops carried out multiple incursions at several points in Ladakh bringing in heavy artillery and erecting concrete structures, then their senior army officers in prolonged talks with Indian counterparts agreed to disengagement, and at dusk, their troops, while retreating, suddenly attacked our Commanding Officer and his jawans. This blatantly exposes the nefarious designs of the Chinese army.

Here are the details about the clash. Chinese troops were supposed to retreat from Patrolling Point 14 (PP14) on Monday, consequent to agreement at the Corps Commander level meeting on June 6. The Chinese troops were supposed to retreat five kilometres into their area. Everything was going on as planned, under the watchful eyes of our 16 Bihar Regiment commanding officer. While retreating, all of a sudden, the Chinese commander provoked his troops to act. Their troops used iron rods, spiked sticks and stone boulders to attack our jawans. This hand-to-hand combat went on till midnight when both the troops disengaged. A large number of soldiers from both sides were injured.

By Monday night, the casualty on Indian side went up to twenty, while there were 43 Chinese casualties, according to our army sources. The Chinese have not yet revealed their casualty figures.

I spoke to several senior army officers. They said, India should be prepared to counter any misadventure on part of the Chinese across the entire LAC, as they cannot be trusted. The Chinese are piqued over India constructing the strategic 255-kilometre Darbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldie road that connects the eastern part to Siachen glacier in northern Ladakh, all within Indian territory.

Building this road on a tough terrain was really challenging and it took 20 years to complete. From India’s strategic point of view, this road is very crucial and can provide the Indian army access to China’s Xinjiang highway. Seven years ago, the Indian Air Force had flown C-130 J Super Hercules transport aircraft to Dault Beg Oldie airstrip.

Since then China has been making preparations. It started amassing its troops at Patrolling Point 14 in Galwan Valley and tried to carry out incursions on May 5 in Naku La on Sikkim border. It brought in troops in army trucks camouflaged as garbage trucks. At the Pangong lake, the Indian and Chinese troops came face to face, but in Galwan Valley the stand-off continued. China had, by that time, amassed nearly 10,000 troops, and India had made up its mind to pay the Chinese back in their own coin. There was mirror deployment of Indian troops to face the Chinese.

After diplomatic and commander level talks, the Chinese withdrew nearly two and a half km from Patrol Points14, 15 and 17, and under a disengagement plan, the Chinese were supposed to retreat further. At last, they cowardly attacked our Colonel and army jawans while retreating.

Can China be trusted now? It has been dabbling in treachery since many years. This has been part of its history, and India needs to be on full alert. Our Prime Minister, Defence Minister are keeping a watchful eye of army’s preparedness under supervision of Chief of Defence Staff and tri-service chiefs, our External Affairs Ministry has been informing other world powers about Chinese incursions and movements.

These are on expected lines, but I firmly believe that the tension on LAC will soon die down and peace will prevail. We should hope so, and we expect the Chinese troops will retreat to their positions peacefully. And yet, there are nagging doubts in our minds: is this all a drama? Why is China doing so? Is China enacting a drama?

I can venture to answer these questions. It is no more a secret that the Chinese spread the deadly Coronavirus across the globe. The entire world now knows that China not only spread the virus, but also concealed facts from the world and it manipulated the World Health Organization. Had China alerted the world about the virus, the international community could have taken preventive measures in time and the lives of several hundred thousand people could have been saved.

China then supplied low quality masks PPE kits and testing kits to the world. Nations across the world, from USA to UK, France, Germany, Israel, Spain and Italy, are unhappy with China. One may ask what this has to do with the tension on the LAC.

I feel, the time has come for the world to teach China a lesson. Economic and diplomatic retaliations matter more than territorial incursions. Many countries have started blocking trade with China and Chinese goods are being boycotted. The Chinese leadership is worried and wants to divert world attention. The easiest way for China was to raise tension level on the Indian border.

I agree with strategic experts when they say that fomenting tension on LAC is a typical Chinese ploy, nothing more, nothing less. China cannot sustain tension on LAC for long, it only wants to give an impression to the world that its might hasn’t diminished.

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When I heard the shocking news about Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide on Sunday afternoon, I had been thinking since then: how could this happen? Why did he take this extreme step? Agreed, he was facing problems, difficulties, but these are not permanent. He could have spoken to people he was closer to. He could have shared his pain with his close friends. This is not Sushant’s problem alone. Millions of people are facing such struggles every day. I therefore decided to speak about this matter in our prime time show ‘Aaj Ki Baat’ on Monday night to convince people that life is everything. So long as you live, you may get your dreams fulfilled, but once you extinguish the flame of life, it is gone, forever.

Sushant was given his last farewell on Monday in the presence of his family members and co-actors. His mortal remains went through the post mortem process and, as of now, Mumbai Police does not find any foul play in his death. Police believe he died due to hanging and asphyxiation. There were no external injuries on his body. Bandra police has filed a case of accidental death. Police have recorded statements of six persons including Sushant’s sister and actor friend Sidharth Pithani. Four people used to stay with Sushant in his flat. There were two cooks from Bihar, a cleaner and Sidharth Pithani.

In his statement to police, Sidharth Pithani said, Sushant was having problems with his girlfriend for the last several months and there were frequent quarrels. Sushant’s family members were objecting to intervention of his girlfriend in family matters. The girlfriend also objected to Sidharth staying with Sushant in his flat. The girlfriend later left him to stay with a friend. Police was also told that the girlfriend had a quarrel with Sushant’s sister Ritu Singh after which the relationship became tense. Police is going to question Sushant’s girlfriend. Police was also told that Sushant had of late been speaking less to his family members and had confined himself to his flat during lockdown.
Questions are many, but nobody appears to have the right answer. One is yet to get a definitive reason for Sushant’s suicide. His career in Bollywood was on the right course. His first movie was a hit at the box office and his last film was a superhit. His films were getting both commercial and critical acclaim. His acting talents were being appreciated. He had three to four new projects in hand.
Sushant was 34 years old and age was with him. That is why his suicide has raised too many eyebrows. Most of the people in Bollywood are shocked. His suicide has become an issue for hot, intemperate discussions on social media.
It is being alleged that Sushant was being sidelined by some Bollywood biggies because he was an outsider. It is being said that some big names in Bollywood have refused to accept Sushant and were elbowing him out from big ticket projects. Charges of promoting nepotism are being levelled against some Bollywood biggies and outsiders are not being allowed in big films.
It is being alleged that Bollywood is now divided into several big camps. Actor Kangna Ranaut went to the extent of describing Sushant’s suicide as ‘planned murder’. She alleged that despite his brilliant acting, Sushant never got acknowledgment, nor did he get awards. Kangna mentioned some posts by Sushant on Instagram in which he was seen telling a lady fan that he had “no godfather in the industry”. He told her, if you want me to survive in Bollywood, go and watch my movie.

Just imagine. Sushant scored seventh rank in engineering entrance exam on All India level. He has been an Olympiad winner in Physics on national level, and here he was asking a student to watch his film despite his exam. Was he so much insecure and desperate?
Desperation shows in an actor when one knows if the film flops, there would be none to back him and he would stop getting work. In one interview, Sushant says there is nepotism in film industry and if fresh talents are not given chance, Bollywood would someday collapse.

Renowned director Shekhar Kapur who directed classic films like ‘Masoom’ and ‘Mr India’ had this to tweet on Sushant’s death. He wrote: “I knew the pain you were going through. I knew the story of the people that let you down so bad that you would weep on my shoulder. I wish I was around the last 6 months. I wish you had reached out to me. What happened to you was their Karma. Not yours.” Sushant was supposed to work in Shekhar Kapur’s new film ‘Paani’ but the project was cancelled by Yashraj Films.
Whatever may be the reason behind his suicide, everybody was unanimous on one point, that he was a very good actor and had a brilliant mind.
Sushant’s suicide is not the first, and we should all pray, it should be the last. We can only appeal to all: please do not choose this terrible path. There are solutions available for all problems. One can find ways out, one should be ready to face challenges and obstacles, howsoever strong they may be. Committing suicide is not the right path, it is not a solution. With one suicide, not only does a person dies, but the dreams of his family members and acquaintances too die.
Imagine the condition of parents when they find their children committing suicide. Their entire world goes down in shambles. There are many young men and women in film and TV industry. I want to tell them: Losing does not mean you accept defeat. Failing does not mean you lose hope for success. If you want to dream and become big, gain laurels, you will have to face bigger obstacles and challenges. Faltering once does not mean you can never get back in your stride. So, do not lose courage. When you start losing courage, think of those who love you the most, who want you to attain success, who have high hopes from you, and in whose dreams you appear.

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First of all, I want to thank Hon’ble Supreme Court judges Justice Ashok Bhushan, Justice Sanjay Kaul and Justice M R Shah for realizing the acute trauma of COVID patients in hospitals. The learned judges themselves said they felt sad while watching “horrible”, “pathetic” videos of patients lying among dead bodies in Delhi’s LNJP hospital on India TV.
“We are more concerned with the living than the dead. Look at the pathetic conditions in the hospitals. Bodies are there in the ward where patients are getting treated. The undignified manner in which bodies are handled, dumped..They are being treated worse than animals”, were the observations from the bench.
The bench also said: “Patients are in the wards and dead bodies are also in the same wards. Dead bodies are seen also in the lobby and waiting area. Patients were not supplied with any oxygen support or any other support, no saline drips were shown with the beds and there was no one to attend to the patients. Patients are crying and there is no one to attend to them.”
The bench then observed: “This is the condition of a government hospital of Delhi, which has a capacity of 2,000 beds. As per the government app, only 870 beds were occupied in LNJP hospital as on June 11. The government app itself gives details of beds occupied in government and private hospitals in Delhi. In government hospitals, the number of beds is 5,814, out of which 2.620 are occupied.”
The first lines in the apex court order made mention of India TV videos that were telecast on Wednesday night in our prime time show “Aaj Ki Baat”.
The apex court ordered the chief secretary of Delhi government “to immediately take appropriate notice of the status of patients’ management in government hospitals..and take remedial action. Status reports with regard to government hospitals, patient care and details of staff, infrastructure etc. should be brought before the court so that appropriate directions can be issued on the next date of hearing.” The court has asked for the status report by Wednesday. A separate notice was issued to LNJP hospital.

The Supreme Court also observed: ‘Reports indicate that patients are running from pillar to post to get admission whereas a large number of beds are lying vacant in government hospitals…Close relatives of patients are not informed for several days about cremation, due to which families are not even able to attend their last rites.”

The bench asked: “..And why is testing so low in Delhi? Mumbai and Chenna are testing 16,000 to 17,000 whereas in Delhi, it is falling below 7,000. Media has highlighted this issue.” The apex court also issued notices to chief secretaries of Maharashtra, Gujarat and West Bengal governments in this matter.

Reading the observations by SC judges, I felt some sense of relief. The apex court order raised hopes that patients may now survive the ordeal in hospitals. I expect patients will no more have to live with dead bodies inside the same ward. The SC order at least gives a ray of hope to expect that at least on some level, the cry of the living dead is being heard.

No evidences, no excuses or justifications or obfuscations are required after watching the videos showing “deplorable” conditions in hospitals. It is gratifying that the Supreme Court took suo motu cognizance of India TV report along with other media reports and directed the governments to respond. During Friday’s hearing, the learned judges often mentioned the videos shown in ‘Aaj Ki Baat’ on June 10 at 9 pm.

When the court sought the opinion of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on India TV videos, he said, the visuals were indeed horrifying and shocking. The court then asked, how such negligence could happen in government hospitals because the videos clearly show that patients were dying and there was nobody to help them.

Justice Shah said with rising spread of Coronavirus, the need for more health infrastructure has increased, beds and doctors are needed, but the government has not come up with any such thing. He described as a shocking failure of the health care system.

Justice Kaul said, the videos shown on India TV clearly reflect the ground realities. He said, for God’s sake, watch the deplorable conditions of the patients, dead bodies are lying in wards, the court is more worried about patients who are alive, but when we find the undignified manner in which bodies are being handled, what will happen to patients who are alive? The judge said, videos shown on India TV leave no one in doubt that that the situation is deteriorating in Delhi. He said, conditions in Delhi government hospitals are pathetic, horrible and horrendous.

I have doubts whether the authorities in LNJP hospital have read the government’s guidelines for disposal of bodies. They might not be knowing how to take care of the body, once a patient dies of COVID. It was because of this that bodies were lying around inside the wards and in the passages and waiting area.

Let me narrate some of the points in the guidelines which health care workers are expected to follow while handling the dead body of a COVID patient.

First of all, they have to follow standard infection prevention control practice, which says that when a COVID patient dies, his body has to be cleared from the ward within half an hour, the close relatives of the patient must be informed, the bed on which the patient had slept must be disinfected, other implements and PPE kits must be sanitized, the body has to be sanitized with 1 per cent Hypochlorite solution and packed inside a leak-proof bag, the body must be kept inside the mortuary at 4 degree Celsius, and during last rites, limited number of relatives be allowed to have a last look at the deceased, and the final rites must be completed with full precautions. The guidelines minutely details the standard procedure for handling of bodies.

But the videos that we showed and which were seen by the learned SC judges clearly reflect that these guidelines were completely cast aside. Forget standard precautions, there was nobody to remove the dead bodies lying inside the ward and in the waiting area.

While in the afternoon, there was good news from the Supreme Court, there was one piece of bad news by the evening. I had expected that the LNJP hospital authorities would take immediate steps to improve care of their remaining patients, arrange oxygen, provide them medicines and food, but I was wrong.

The government did nothing for 36 hours after the videos were televised, and the result was: a 23-year-old young man Rajesh Singh Rawat, who was shown alive in the video, died on Friday. This is a black spot on our health care system. This young man was killed by our health care system. The brother of the dead COVID patient told India TV reporter Deeksha Pandey outside LNJP hospital that he had come to take his body. The young man was seen in Wednesday’s video as sitting on a bed, a few feet away from where a nude body lay under another bed. He was not in good condition at that time, but he was not suffering from acute breathing trouble either. Whatever Rajesh’s brother said can make any sensible person cry.
I am at a loss of words when I listen to relatives of COVID patients who lost their lives due to a callous and insensitive health care system. How can a common man trust such hospitals which are nothing but dungeons and hell holes.

The Delhi government issued a statement on Supreme Court’s order in the evening. It said, COVID pandemic was an “extraordinary” situation and it was trying its best to set up better infrastructure and provide quality health care to all patients. The state government said, it accepts the SC’s observation with “utmost respect” and “absolute sincerity” and was prepared to plug any gaps brought to its notice. It claimed that an NHRC team has expressed “satisfaction” with the facilities at LNJP hospital.

Delhi government may shrug off the tongue lashing that it got from Supreme Court, but both the government and LNJP hospital will have to give explanations to the apex court by June 17. It will now be up to the apex court whether it accepts their explanations as satisfactory or not.

Normally matter of law are discussed inside courts, but it is the nation that ultimately runs on popular sentiments. The common man views from his own prism the harsh realities that are prevalent in hospitals. In Hindi, there is a famous couplet from Kabir: “दुर्बल को ना सताइये, जाकी मोटी हाय | बिना साँस की चाम से, लोह भसम होई जाय ||” (Do not oppress the poor, its curse can destroy, like a leather that can inflame a fire to melt iron to ashes)

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The Supreme Court, on Friday, took suo motu cognizance of ‘Aaj Ki Baat’ report on what it called “deplorable” conditions in Delhi’s LNJP hospital and issued notices to both the Delhi government and LNJP hospital to respond. The apex court said: “India TV on June 10 highlighted a report on a video where patients have been in pathetic conditions. Dead bodies in the lobby, waiting area, wards. This is the state of a government hospital.”

On Wednesday night, I had shown in ‘Aaj Ki Baat’ how dead bodies are lying inside wards near COVID patients gasping for breath in LNJP hospital. The medical superintendent of LNJP hospital has given surprising justifications for the horrifying visuals shown on India TV.

Dr Suresh Kumar, the medical superintendent, claimed that he was in the hospital the whole night on Wednesday and could not sleep. Like millions of other viewers, I could not also sleep on Wednesday night properly as images of unclothed dead bodies lying on the floor surfaced in my mind. I had a troubled sleep that night thinking about images of patients vomiting in the corridors.

The medical superintendent claimed that he was in LNJP hospital the whole night but did not find anything wrong. I was surprised when he said this live on India TV. I know a large number of doctors and I fully understand under what pressures most of the doctors work, but for a medical superintendent to say that people who are in a critical stage and very weak come to this hospital and they are lying unclothed because of hot weather, was really surprising.

For a medical superintendent to say that he finds nothing wrong in the videos showing near-dead patients with parts of their body dangling from beds, and dead bodies lying on adjacent beds, is, to say the least, puzzling.

A team from National Human Rights Commission visited LNJP hospital on Thursday to check the conditions of patients in the wards. Delhi government has suspended two staff including the head of nursing, in LNJP hospital, and this seems to be the only thing that the state government could do.

The question is not about what action has been taken against the staff. The question is about restoring confidence in the minds of patients and relatives about this hospital. Whatever the medical superintendent Dr Suresh Kumar has said will surely break people’s confidence. Let us first read what the MS said.

India TV anchor Sushant Sinha spoke live on India TV with LNJP medical superintendent on Thursday morning.

On bodies lying on stretchers in the open, he said these had been brought downstairs and kept outside lifts. On patients lying on beds without clothes, his explanation was a classic one. He said, because of COVID infection risk, the central AC cooling system had been switched off, and there was nothing wrong if patients took off their clothes in 40 degree Celsius weather. He gave another excuse saying that clothes of some of the patients were taken off because they had either been given CPR or their urine catheter tubes had been changed.

Clearly, these were lame excuses given by the medical superintendent to shield gross negligence on part of his doctors, nurses and attendants. Not one of the doctors or nurses was seen when the video was made.

To highlight the entire issue in contrast, we sent our reporter Pawan Nara to Delhi’s Sir Gangaram Hospital, which has recently been converted into a COVID dedicated hospital. He visited the wards where COVID patients were being treated. Our reporter was wearing PPE kit, face mask and gloves, and he kept a distance while speaking to doctors.

In this private hospital, a COVID patient once admitted is given a clean bed with sanitized linen, and each bed has an oxygen level monitoring system. Each COVID patient is attended to by doctors and nurses meticulously and they take extra care to ensure that the patient’s condition does not deteriorate.

There lies the basic difference. I find a greater sense of sincerity of purpose among health care workers in private hospitals as compared to government-run hospitals. In LNJP hospital, the COVID patients had been left to the mercy of God, while in Gangaram hospital, there are doctors, nurses, attendants and facilities like oxygen monitors, drips, etc. to take care of patients.

On one hand, we have hospitals where patients get round-the-clock care and monitoring, and on the other hand, we have patients lying on beds, resigned to their fate, in the midst of dead bodies. On one hand, a hospital modifies its central air conditioning to ensure that patients are not inconvenienced, and on the other, we have a medical superintendent justifying why patients lie on beds without clothes in 40 deg C weather.

On one hand, we have the camera showing doctors, nurses or attendants wearing PPE kits moving around among COVID patients, and on the other, we have the camera roving around the wards for 15 minutes and not finding a single doctor or nurse.

Watching these two videos in contrast, one can easily gauge why people prefer private hospitals to government run hospitals. No lame justifications are required when you find a dead body without clothes kept beneath a patient’s bed and why there are bodies in almost every COVID ward of a hospital.

I felt sad when I saw the MS of LNJP hospital saying that he was present inside the hospital the whole night on Wednesday. Yet he did not know that there were bodies lying around in the wards and his patients were gasping for breath, unattended. He promised that he would get this matter probed and let us know by Wednesday evening, but there was no reply forthcoming. We are still waiting for his reply.

I know that COVID has no standard treatment protocol and there are no medicines to cure patients. I also agree that better treatment does not come only through better facilities, nor does it require better air conditioning.

I also agree that better treatment does not require each doctor or nurse to stand near a COVID patient for hours. But I know this much that if you want your patient to recover, the least thing that he or she requires is sympathy and courage.

If the patient is confident that those treating him or her do really care, if a patient understands that he or she would not be left to die unattended, if the doctor gives courage to the patient that he or she would recover soon, then I can very well say that I have seen people on their death beds winning their battle for life.

The only thing that a patient battling COVID requires is courage, and some sympathy in the heart of the doctor. But how can you expect a patient to muster courage when one finds surrounded with dead bodies inside a ward? That patient will surely die even before he or she embraces death.

Those viewers who watched the LNJP MS Dr Suresh Kumar speak on India TV, may have clearly surmised by now that he has not an iota of sympathy in his heart for patients.

After watching the LNJP hospital videos and the frivolous explanations given by the MS, I can say without any doubt that those working in that hospital have lost all sense of sympathy. They are merely trying to hunt for justifications to save their own skins. For them, a dead or a half-dead man can fall off the bed on to the floor. For them, a patient is unconscious because he or she must be having a sound sleep.

Each one of these justifications is nothing but an atrocity, an injustice, towards those patients who opted to get themselves treated in government hospitals. These patients went to hospitals, built with your and our money, in the hope that they would get back their lives.

I had forward the LNJP videos to people who matter in Delhi government. I had wanted that action should be taken. The action they took was: two nurses were suspended. If this is not whitewashing, what else is it?

I never wanted a doctor or a nurse or an attendant be dismissed. This not the solution. These are outdated knee-jerk reactions. Nobody nowadays is afraid of suspension or dismissal.

What all of us want is that the 700-plus COVID patients still being treated in LNJP hospital, must at least get better care. Let a plan be formulated as to how to remove the dead bodies from the wards, how doctors and nurses should attend to each patient, how to protect patients from 40 deg C heat, and lastly, how to ensure that they are not left to die, unattended. If the hospital takes action on these points, I will feel satisfied with the action taken. Whatever has happened, has happened. Now let us move on, and improve our health care system. The sooner, the better.

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In my prime time show ‘Aaj Ki Baat’ on Wednesday night, we showed visuals of COVID-19 patients lying on beds with dead bodies kept either below the bed or on nearby beds in Delhi’s LNJP hospital, supposed to be Delhi’s biggest COVID dedicated hospital.
We also showed visuals of four bodies kept on stretchers in the visiting area of the hospital earmarked for relatives of COVID patients. There were also visuals of COVID patients gasping for breath, one of them half lying on bed and the remaining part of his body dangling from the bed. Another patient, also struggling for breath, had fallen on the floor. Not a single doctor, nurse or attendant was present.
I had been getting videos about COVID patients struggling for life in Delhi hospitals daily. I decided to send our reporter Pawan Nara to check out the authenticity of these videos. What he reported was horrifying.
The visuals that I mentioned above were not from one single ward, but was the general pattern in at least ten wards of LNJP hospital, which boasts of having more than 2,000 beds. These visuals can give you a clear picture as to why people avoid going to government hospitals, and prefer privately run hospitals. Why beds are lying vacant in government run hospitals, and most of the beds in private hospitals are full.
Looking at the grisly videos (in one of them, a patient was lying on bed without any clothes), it appears as if these patients had been brought to the hospital to die. These were COVID patients brought by their relatives for treatment, and they have been left lying among the dead, to die a painful death.
India TV camera also panned around passages, where patients were lying on the floor, vomiting, but there was no health worker to take care of them. The 15-minute-long visuals did not reveal a single nurse or a doctor or a ward boy moving around.
Just imagine the conditions of the hospital’s mortuary. Before telecasting these visuals, we had to edit out portions not meant for public viewing. While watching these, one can easily understand why most of the 2,500 beds in Delhi’s government hospitals are lying vacant. These videos are damning evidences of gross negligence on part of the hospital authorities.
While watching these visuals carefully, one can easily notice most of the COVID patients, struggling for life, had no saline drips, nor was there any sort of monitoring on part of the doctors. One patient, almost unconscious, was lying below a bed, on which a lady patient was lying. An elderly patient was lying on a nearby bed, without any body movement, probably taking his last breath. It appears as if the hospital was leaving patients to die, in the name of treatment.

On Wednesday, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had asked people to point out if there are deficiencies in health care. He had promised that his government would work on people’s suggestions. It is now time that those who wield power in his government must sit up and take notice of these videos. Delhi government must find out why bodies were left lying on stretchers in the waiting area of LNJP hospital, meant for relatives.

Till last week, when I used to watch videos of patients lying with dead bodies around in Mumbai’s KEM, Sion or Cooper hospitals, I was under the impression that health care in Delhi hospitals was better. But these visuals are enough to strike fear in the minds of people.

COVID wards in LNJP hospital are meant for treating critically ill patients, but the videos clearly show that practically no treatment is being provided to them. Once critical patients are admitted to this hospital, their relatives are not allowed to meet the patients. The patients are left to die, as their oxygen levels drop, and once the patient dies, the ward boy comes and picks up the body on a stretcher, to take it to the mortuary. Since mortuaries are packed, bodies are left lying on stretchers in the open.
Delhi government’s statistics show 771 out of a total of 2,000 beds in LNJP hospital are occupied and more than 1,200 beds are vacant. Clearly, the word has gone outside that patients are not being provided proper care, and hence, people avoid bringing critically ill patients to this hospital. If this is the situation in Delhi’s biggest COVID dedicated hospital, then it is better that COVID patients stay at home, where they can at least get proper care from their family members.
India TV reporter Deeksha Pandey spoke to relatives waiting outside LNJP hospital. They had come to find out the condition of their patients. A young lady said, her father told him on phone that he was lying among dead bodies in his ward and there was nobody to take care. Her father was imploring her to take him out of this hell. Seven days later, she was informed that her father was dead.
Can anybody in his or her sense want to go to this hospital after watching these shocking visuals? Think about the trauma that relatives must be facing about their patients after watching these visuals. I remember the words of one hospital official, who after watching the videos, said, “I am speechless”.

If this is the condition of the biggest COVID dedicated hospital in the nation’s capital, think about the conditions in other hospitals. I have forwarded all these videos to Delhi Health Minister Satyender Jain. He told our reporter that he would take action and thanked us for sending the videos.

The government must take action, but my question is a bit different. If this was the sordid condition in Delhi government’s largest hospital, if there was total mismanagement and negligence, how come the Health Minister of Delhi failed to get any clues? Was he being misled by his officials? Who must be held accountable?

Delhi government must surely take action, but it must immediately take urgent steps to improve the health care conditions in this hospital. At least save those 751 COVID patients who are still struggling for life in this hospital. At least give some sort of assurance and courage to their family members. If the government fails, people will stop sending their patients to government run hospitals, because they are fast losing trust in the health care system.

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On Tuesday, Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia told the state disaster management authority that if the present trend continues, Delhi could reach 5.5 lakh COVID-19 cases by July-end and there would be need for 80,000 hospital beds. Delhi Heath Minister said, the capital has entered the community transmission stage, but it was for the Centre to declare if it is so.

The question is: why is Delhi government saying that community spread has begun, though the Centre and WHO are unwilling to accept this? I smell some amount of politics behind this.

Since the COVID situation is deteriorating in Delhi, nobody wants to own responsibility, and that is why statements are being made at random, in advance, to save one’s skin. Throughout the COVID crisis, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal did not utter a single word against the Centre, accepted whatever the Centre directed, and did not raise his voice when the Centre gave a lesser package to Delhi.

Kejriwal himself said, he had told his party leaders to ignore criticisms by local BJP leaders, but when the Lt. Governor on Monday turned down the state government’s proposal not to allow outside patients for treatment in Delhi hospitals, Kejriwal looked worried. He could not gauge why this happened. Kejriwal and his team suspect that the Lt. Gov. took this decision at the instance of BJP. Some of the AAP leaders are on record having said that state BJP leaders want to gain political advantage by projecting that the Delhi government has failed to tackle COVID crisis.

The question is: will COVID spread faster in Delhi as Sisodia has projected? If it is so, can outsiders be allowed to be treated in Delhi hospitals? The Lt. Governor has to answer this question. And, if COVID situation is under control in Delhi, will influx of patients from outside make any difference here? Kejriwal has to answer this question.

I spoke to several doctors and experts. None was able to clearly predict the rate at which COVID cases will grow in Delhi in the next two months. None of the experts were willing to say that the number of cases would go up to 5.5 lakh in Delhi by July-end. None could predict the exact peak time, nor could anybody say clearly whether Delhi has entered community transmission stage.

The reason: COVID-19 is a new type of virus, has no past history, has behaved differently in different countries and different cities. Hence, nobody can predict anything with confidence. However, preparations have to be made: stadiums will have to be converted into hospitals to boost capacity, but if community spread has begun right now, there must be urgency in preparedness. Nobody knows when there will be a big spurt in the number of cases. Let all the parties leave politicking behind till this crisis is over.

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With the number of cases and fatalities rising, numerous messages have started circulating on social media which say that patients are dying in Delhi because of want of beds. Questions have also been raised about testing, treatment and the credibility of the health system. India TV reporters went to major hospitals around the capital and reported that the situation is not so worse as is being made out to be.

There are more than 8,000 hospital beds in Delhi for COVID patients, out of which 4,500 beds are in government hospitals and nearly 3,500 beds are in private hospitals. Nearly 2,500 beds are lying vacant in government hospitals because patients are preferring private hospitals. Most of the beds in private hospitals are full and the demand is rising day by day. In the midst of all these, fake messages are being circulated on social media to say that nearly one lakh people have died in Delhi and that hospitals are hiding actual figures on fatalities.

Messages are also being circulated about hospitals refusing to treat patients citing different reasons. Delhi government’s appeal to people with mild symptoms to stay at home and opt for self-treatment, is being misinterpreted on social media to say that Delhi hospitals are now unable to manage the pandemic. People are now asking questions whether our hospitals are really short of beds, oxygen and ventilators. They are also asking why refrigerated trucks have been deployed outside hospitals leading to rumors that the mortuaries are full. People are also asking, based on fake messages on social media, whether there are queues outside crematoriums and graveyards.

In the midst of this, the Lt. Governor of Delhi Anil Baijal on Friday junked the state government’s decision to allow treatment of Delhi residents only in the capital’s hospitals. Exercising his power as chair of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority, he issued order that no patient shall be denied treatment for not being a Delhi resident.

I feel, with the spurt in COVID cases in Delhi and neighbouring states, there could be shortage of beds and proper treatment in hospitals outside Delhi, and patients prefer to come to Delhi for treatment. This will definitely create a big burden on Delhi hospitals, and the health infrastructure may not be able to withstand such pressure. If people from other states are admitted to Delhi hospitals, residents of Delhi will surely find it difficult to get treatment.

I could not understand the logic behind the Lt. Governor’s decision. Who will benefit if Delhi’s health system collapses? Instead of scoring brownie points, all of us should think about providing treatment to Delhi patients. Both the Centre and Delhi governments must work together to tackle the pandemic. This is an extraordinary situation and it requires extraordinary decisions. There should be no scope for politics on such issues.

India TV reporters visited different hospitals for a ground reality check. At Gangaram Hospital, officials said very few patients have been turned away because of lack of beds. The hospital superintendent said, people having mild flu symptoms are being directed to the flu ward inside the hospital for preliminary checks and then sent home. At the Corona ward in AIIMS Trauma Care Centre, the AIIMS medical superintendent Dr D K Sharma said that only serious or critical patients are being treated there, and the rest are sent to another COVID dedicated hospital at National Cancer Institute, Jhajjar, Haryana. At the Trauma Centre, out of 250 beds, 105 beds are full and 145 beds are vacant.

In LNJP Hospital, more than 1,200 out of 2,000 beds are vacant, while 1,400 out of 1,500 beds in GTB Hospital are vacant. These are data furnished by Delhi government on their app. In Safadarjang hospital, almost all beds are occupied, while there are 289 out of 500 beds vacant in Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital. Overall, 4,400 out of 8,500 beds in Delhi hospitals are occupied and more than 4,150 beds are vacant.

As far as ventilators are concerned, LNJP hospital has 54 out of 64 ventilators occupied, GTB Hospital has only seven out of 53 ventilators occupied, 46 ventilators are unused in Safdarjang hospital, and all the 29 ventilators in Rajiv Gandhi Hospital are not in use. Overall, out of 512 ventilators in Delhi, only 248 are in use and the remaining unused.

Former MP Shahid Siddiqui had pointed out how his niece was denied treatment at several hospitals in Delhi after which she died. We checked the hospitals who refused treatment. Max hospital, Saket had all 200 beds full, Max hospital, Patparganj had all 80 beds full, Max hospital, Shalimar Bagh had all 56 beds full, Apollo hospital, Delhi, had all 137 beds occupied, Holy Family hospital had 55 out of 69 beds full and Moolchand Hospital had 25 out of 28 beds full. There should be a probe into why the last two hospitals denied treatment to Shahid Siddiqui’s niece.

I have narrated the statistics in different Delhi hospitals to give you an idea of the current COVID situation in the capital. The overall picture is: most of the beds in private hospitals are full while several thousand beds are lying vacant in government run hospitals. People in general believe patients do not get proper care in government hospitals. They do not have trust in the system, and there lies the problem.
Already, the situation in Delhi is turning grim. Total number of COVID cases (29,943) in the capital is set to cross 30,000 and so far, 874 patients have died. The positivity rate of COVID-19 cases in Delhi is as high as 27 per cent. Out of 5,042 people tested in last 24 hours, 1,282 tested positive. This is a worrisome trend as one out of every four Delhiite appears to be infected with the virus. In the last one week, 9,092 COVID patients came to hospitals. From March 14 till May 31, a total of 470 patients died, while from June 1 till 7, this figure went up to 812. This means, 342 COVID patients died in Delhi last week.
There is confusion over glaring difference in death figures in Delhi government and Municipal Corporation statistics. I do not think any government can fudge statistics and hide the number of fatalities in this technological age. The difference in statistics needs to be reconciled.
On one hand, Delhi government says 874 people died, but Corporation records show more than 1,700 COVID patients were either cremated or buried. There appears to be some communication gap, or technical error. This needs to be fixed at the earliest, otherwise baseless rumours will circulate on social media to say that there is no space for burial or cremation in Delhi. Such mischievous messages must be nipped in the bud.

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Not too long ago, we were watching visuals of large number of COVID patients going to hospitals in New York, Italy and Spain, where there were no beds available, and the number of deaths was continuing to rise daily.

Right now, hospitals in Delhi and Mumbai are on the verge of such a grim situation. The overall picture across India is worrying. With 295 deaths, the highest in a single day, the death toll in India has reached 6,643. There were 9,377 new cases reported on Friday, and at 2,36,117, India is now in sixth place, pushing Italy behind.

There have been many cases in Delhi and Mumbai where hospitals have refused to admit critically ill COVID patients. Patients are dying because hospitals refused to admit them.

Let me give some examples. Delhi’s Gangaram Hospital refused to admit a nine-month pregnant lady because she was found COVID positive. Her family alleged that the hospital demanded Rs 5 lakhs for her admission. Since the family was poor, it managed to collect only Rs two lakhs. The private hospital told the family to take her away to some government hospital which provide free treatment. Later, the private hospital administration admitted its error and promised to bear the entire costs of treating the lady.

In Mumbai, a 69-year-old diabetic patient was to undergo gall bladder surgery, but was found COVID positive. On Saturday, the patient’s oxygen level fell by 50 per cent. The patient’s engineer son phoned BMC helpline, but was told no hospital was available. He contacted nearly a dozen hospitals and all of them refused. At around 9.30 pm a private hospital agreed to take the patient. The son contacted an ambulance driver, who demanded Rs 8000 for transporting the patient to a distance of merely 300 metres. The driver claimed that his owner had told him to ferry each patient for Rs 8000. Finally, the lady passed away in her home in Kurla.

Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar told India TV that during normal times, nearly 3,000 ambulance used to be available in the city, but now the number has dwindled to only one hundred. The mayor said, this was because most of the ambulance drivers are unwilling to work fearing COVID. This is the situation in a metro which has more than 45,000 COVID patients.

In Mumbai’s Jogeshwari, a 55-year-old patient died on a wheel chair after seven hospitals refused to admit him. In Delhi, 75-year-old Moti Ram Goyal, a resident of Nand Nagri, moved Delhi high court seeking direction for providing him a bed in a government hospital, as he was a COVID patient. Goyal died on June 3, two hours after the appeal was filed before the high court.

Another Delhi resident Lakhjit Singh was taken to LNJP hospital at 7.30 am. Doctors asked where the COVID test was done, when his son said the test was done at Gangaram hospital, he was told to take his father to Gangaram hospital. The son begged doctors for assistance, the patient was forcibly taken inside the hospital on a stretcher, an oxygen cylinder was somehow procured, but by that time, the old man had died, gasping for breath. LNJP hospital authorities later claimed that the patient was ‘brought dead’. A plain, white lie.

The corporation-run Bara Hindurao hospital has stopped taking COVID swab tests. Nearly 50 people, including some doctors, who had gone there for tests were turned away. The hospital used to send samples to NCDC (National Centre for Disease Control), which used to send reports. NCDC said, its backlog has increased in recent days, and they were unable to take samples. A lab in Noida was contacted by the hospital, but the lab too declined to take samples.

In Thane, near Mumbai, a private lab was found taking COVID swab samples by appointing a dancer, an artiste and a clean-up marshal, all of them having no technical knowledge. This path lab had got approval to carry out COVID tests from Indian Council of Medical Research. Out of the 10 persons hired by the lab, most of them are non-technical persons. The lab owner told India TV reporter that when his lab got ICMR approval in April, he had 8 to 10 technical persons working, but all of them left fearing Coronavirus.

There is this video of a patient lying on a stretcher outside GTB Hospital, Delhi, gasping for breath, but not a single nurse, doctor or attendant was available. The hospital refused to admit the patient, Ravi Agrawal, saying that now since it was a COVID dedicated hospital, no patient can be admitted without a COVID positive test report. Ravi Agrawal’s relatives had taken him to several hospitals, but all of them refused to admit.

While India TV reporter was speaking to a GTB hospital doctor Dr Rajesh Kalra, another lady with breathing trouble was brought to the hospital, but the lady was shooed off from the emergency ward without any checks. The neighbour who had brought the lady patient, told India TV reporter that they had gone to several hospitals, and all of them refused to admit her. There is another video of Max hospital, Patparganj, refusing to admit even non-COVID patients, though the hospital administration has later issued a clarification.

Delhi government says there is no dearth of doctors, nurses and hospital videos, but the ground reality seems to be harsher. People are now making videos and circulating them, when they find that their relatives are not being admitted to hospitals. Every day, I received scores of videos, and I get them checked with our reporters.

Doctors say, patients who have mild symptoms of COVID need not panic. They can stay at home for 14 days and take full precautions to recover. Doctors point out that hospitals are places where oxygen and ventilators are provided to critically ill patients, and those who have COVID symptoms should not worry.

This is easier said than done. People do not trust when government and doctors tell them to stay at home if found to be COVID positive. There is need to build trust in the minds of people.

Already, the COVID figures are worrying. Delhi recorded 44 deaths in a span of three days from June 1 to 3, and the death toll has now reached 708. There were 1,330 new cases on Friday, and the total number of COVID cases in the capital has gone up to 26,334. Out of this, 11,870 cases were reported in a span of last ten days. The situation is worse in Mumbai. There were 54 deaths on Friday taking the total death toll to 1,158. There were 1,150 new cases taking the total number to over 45,000.

If this is the situation in metros like Delhi and Mumbai, think about rural areas.

In Araria, Bihar, a lady auxiliary midwife nurse (ANM) begged doctors to treat her husband, but they refused. Her husband, Jayaprakash Singh, had returned from Delhi on May 28. He was kept in quarantine and then sent to a hospital in Forbesganj. The hospital sent him to Araria district hospital. Since he was a suspected COVID patient, the doctors in Araria hospital refused to treat him. The man ultimately died.

There is this video from Dhanbad, Jharkhand, where bodies of two dead patients from PMCH hospital were being taken in a cycle cart, due to lack of ambulance. The medical infrastructure in both Bihar and Jharkhand is already weak. There are three patients sleeping on a single bed and now this video of two bodies being carried on a cycle cart. Such visuals are disturbing and people may not forget them for a long time.

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