By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Oct. 24: Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba has demanded that the government should provide COVID-19 test and treatment to the citizens free of cost, without putting forth any condition and without being biased.
Issuing a statement on Thursday, Deuba accused the government of taking undemocratic and unconstitutional decisions by telling the people to bear the costs of Polymerase Change Reaction (PCR) test and treatment on their own.
He asked the government to annul the decision and work in the interest of people at the present time of crisis.
Stating that the people were anxious about the health of their own and family members, Deuba said the government should act as guardians of all citizens when they were facing crisis.
Condemning the government’s recent decision, Deuba said the decision showed that the government was irresponsible and not serious about people’s health.
Deuba said the Constitution has provisioned free basic health facilities to the people and getting free treatment was constitutional and legal rights of the people.
“The government should have implemented the constitutional provision without any condition” Deuba said, accusing the government of violating the Supreme Court verdict and showing undemocratic nature by taking such irrational decision.
“I want to make the Prime Minister aware about not inviting such a situation,” he said.
Stating that the government had become irresponsible since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic to control it by not supplying necessary materials in time, managing test, quarantine, isolation centres, labs, hospitals and not bringing people home from abroad, he said the government involved in irregularities and corruption instead.
“The government ignored our suggestions which we had provided in time. The present horrible situation of pandemic was created because of the irresponsible acts of the present Nepal Communist Party (NCP)-led government,” he said.
The NC boss expressed sorrow over the death of people from COVID-19 and wished speedy recovery of all those infected with the virus.
In another context, Deuba said the government was unable to control black-marketing, price hike, unnatural scarcity, corruption and irregularities.
“There is no economic transparency, discipline and fiscal discipline. The state coffer is being spent in unnecessary tasks. But the government is not sensitive towards citizens’ health,” he said.