সম্প্রতি করোণা পরিস্থিতি নিয়ে মহুয়া মৈত্রকে লিখেছিলেন কানাডার আলবার্টা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের তরুণ গবেষক রুদ্র প্রসন্ন ব্যানার্জী। তাঁর প্রবন্ধটি পশ্চিমবঙ্গে বিশেষ সাড়া জাগিয়েছিল। এর প্রতিবাদে এক প্রতিষ্ঠান সি এ ভি থেকে ডঃ বৈদ্যনাথ ঘোষ দস্তিদার বঙ্গদেশে লিখতে চেয়েছেন। মতপ্রকাশের স্বাধীনতা মানুষের মানবিকতার স্বাক্ষর। মতপ্রকাশের স্বাধীনতার অভাবে মানুষ পশুর সমতুল্য হয়ে যায়। দুর্ভাগ্যের বিষয় বঙ্গে মতপ্রকাশের স্বাধীনতা বহুদিন ব্যাহত হয়েছে। মানুষের চিন্তাকে রুদ্ধ করার অপচেষ্টা বিশেষভাবে দেখা যাচ্ছে।
মতপ্রকাশের স্বাধীনতা হরণের এই প্রয়াসের বাড় বাড়ন্ত হয়েছে বামপন্থী আমল থেকে। একদিকে বামপন্থী না হলে সামান্য সরকারী চাকুরী পাওয়া থেকে শুরু করে কলিকাতা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের উপাচার্য হওয়াও ছিল অসম্ভব, অন্যদিকে বিরোধী কথার পত্রপত্রিকাগুলির বিতরণে বাধা দান কিছুই বাম আমলে বাকী ছিল না। এমনকি তথাকথিত ধর্মবিরোধী বামেরা তসলিমা নাসরিনের বই দ্বিখণ্ডিত-কে ইসলামবিরোধী হবার জন্য নিষিদ্ধ করেছে।
তৃণমূল আমলেও সেই ট্র্যাডিশন সমানে চলছে। মুখ্যমন্ত্রীর উপর বানানো মীমের জন্য এক অধ্যাপককে কারারুদ্ধ করা, “জয় শ্রীরাম” ধ্বনির জন্য পুলিশ দিয়ে হেনস্তা করা, এসব তো সর্বোচ্চ মহল থেকেই করা হয়েছে। উপর্যুপরি ফেসবুকে ইসলামবাদের সমালোচনা করলেও কারাগার গমন এক স্বাভাবিক ব্যাপার হয়ে চলেছে।
সারা বিশ্বে লিবারেলরা সমালোচনা সহ্য করতে পারে না। তাই বিরুদ্ধ মতাবলম্বীদের বক্তৃতা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়গুলিতে নিষিদ্ধ হয়। সম্প্রতি প্রখ্যাত আইনজীবী জে সাই দীপককে জামিয়া মিলিয়া বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ে কথা বলতে বাধা দান করা হয়েছে। রুদ্র প্রতাপ ব্যানার্জীর লেখাটিও আনন্দবাজার পত্রিকায় প্রকাশিত না হবার মূলে কি এই কারণই বর্তমান?
বঙ্গের নবজাগরণ আমরা চাই। তাই মতপ্রকাশের স্বাধীনতায় আমাদের বিশ্বাস। এই কারণে ডঃ বৈদ্যনাথ ঘোষ দস্তিদারের চিঠিতে বঙ্গদেশের পাঠকদের কাছে হুবহু তুলে ধরা হল।
Law is reason without passion- Artistotle
In these extremely difficult times it is hard to be dispassionate, especially for first responders like myself who have literally put our bodies on the line to fight a deadly virus.
It has come to the knowledge of CAV Foundation that 3 letters have been written, the first to the WB government in relation to COVID 19 management, the second letter has been addressed to MP Mahua Moitra by 27 celebrities of West Bengal in response to an article published in her name in a reputed bengali media Ananda Bazaar Patrika, the third letter written by Mr R Banerjee from the University of Alberta addressed to Ms Moitra.
As a non political think tank working in the realm of public health, public policy and mental health it is not our job to endorse the views of Miss Moitra or any political party , but give a fair, accurate assessment based on scientific facts.
The group of scholars from US have raised some very serious questions, some of which do deserve careful consideration. However the letter is an incomplete representation of facts as relevant medical data have been overlooked by the given panel of authors.
The second letter written by Satarupa Sanyal, Sabyasachi Chakraborty , Dr Ambikesh Mahapatra has no medical or scientific facts so its difficult for us to respond to a letter based solely on rhetoric.
1) It is correct that there is urgent requirement to increase COVID 19 testing to locate the cases and carriers of the illness. It is also correct that testing needs to be accelerated in West Bengal as in other parts of India.
However testing is an extremely complex process which includes testing kits, trained manpower, huge logistics and a IT back end for data storage and dissemination .
The authors fail to recognize the simple fact that the above requires years of planning and investment, most of which is the responsibility of the ICMR and the central government.
The authors fail to mention that healthcare has been ignored by successive central governments ( both BJP, Congress and United Front ) and the percent GDP spent on health care in India is less than 2 %.
We also refer to the South Korean CDC model, where an elaborate infrastructure was developed over a period of 2 to 3 years in response to the MERS epidemic, the same infrastructure saved S Korea during the current corona pandemic.
Even in USA , the development of infrastructure to tackle any biohazard or pandemic is the responsibility of the CDC, state governments act as nodal agencies.
The management of COVID requires a triphasic effort involving the WHO, state and central government as was in the case of small pox eradication.
It is only fair that a similar letter is sent to GOI and the central government urging the development of a central agency on the lines of the CDC to tackle biological threats.
2) The authors have omitted the critical fact that faulty testing kits were supplied by the ICMR to the state governments and some kits had to be returned back. There was a sharp verbal duel between the Indian government and the Chineese foreign office over the issue of faulty kits.
The state government cannot directly order testing kits from China or elsewhere as per MEA guidelines.
3) The same John’s Hopkins group had warned the Indian government back in January itself when the first outbreak surfaced in Wuhan of a similar situation in India. The John’s Hopkins faculty report was rejected by the central government. Why did GOI not procure critical medical armaments such as PPE, ventilators, life saving drugs in January itself ?
4) A report published in IJMR, the official journal of ICMR had advised symptomatic community testing in January as opposed to the sole testing of symptomatic international travellers.
The above report/ journal was prepared after mathematical analysis of several response mechanisms.
This report was not accepted . Prior to March 20 th ; GOI had a policy of only testing symptomatic foreign travellers to India.
If the ICMR report had been accepted and implemented than community spread in India could have been restricted to a great extent.
5) Any reports prepared by a think tank or academics must refer to scientific journals, government documents and written medical testimony. The letter written to the West Bengal government has referred to lay press such as Facebook story, grainmart.in and ABP ANANDA video.
With due respect, this isn’t expected from academics of such stature.
6) The ground reality in several parts of Kolkata and West Bengal as we perceive after speaking to doctors , is that both tests and contact tracing is being done, both in the private and government sector; although we advocate ramping up testing.
6) Another fact raised was that doctors and nurses need to be protected, and several care givers have been infected with COVID – 19.
However the letter carefully ignores the key information that PPE kits , a critical piece of medical armament was procured by HLL , a subsidiary of the central government. HLL was the sole procurement and distribution agency for PPE units and there is a notification to this effect, this created a bottleneck in the disbursement of PPE an essential tool to protect medical staff.
7 ) I also wish to state that 145 staff in Massachusetts General Hospital and a total of 350 health workers have been infected in Boston.
The NRI group is well versed with the above information, hence it would be fairer on their part to criticize the Masschusets government which has greater funds, infrastructure and technology at their disposal than a poor state like West Bengal.
Even Mrs Hillary Rodham Clinton tweeted that a Detroit health worker, Deborah Gatewood died from COVID 19 after being denied a test for more than four times !
The MP in question (Miss Moitra) was well within her right to ask a valid question that why similar letters were not written to the US government, her observation is neither unscientific nor immature.
Criticism which is selective isn’t fair criticism.
7) Any pandemic of this scale requires an expert committe having competent, credible medical professionals who have to be competent and impartial in their views. The criteria to diagnose cases has been laid out clearly both in ICD 10 and DSM 5, that has been our consistent position.
If the committe in any state has made an error in medical diagnosis then that is a fault, however it doesn’t belittle the fact that all leading hospitals and states of India have similar expert committees.
8 ) I completely agree that scientific enquiry cannot be restricted by nationality or region. It would have been extremely helpful had the experts in epidemiology offered their services to develop a model for the West Bengal government and offered to come and directly be a part of the states efforts.
The NRI community could have contributed to the CMs fund , in a time when the state reels under financial crises and require urgent funds to ramp up healthcare, provide PPE to doctors and feed millions suffering the effects of lockdown.
Writing a selective letters in public domain is very much a political act rather then an earnest gesture of help.
9) It is also surprising that it takes 27 celebrities to respond to a first time member of Parliament, a lady who herself left a very lucrative high paying career in London to work in rural for 10 years prior to her election as a MP.
In moments of crisis people must rise above their political interests, both civil society, doctors and all strata of both national and state governments must work as a team. The current politicisation of a pandemic is extremely unfortunate and unfair.
Dr Baidyanath Ghosh Dastidar
Organizing Secretary
CAV Foundation