Publicité

Covid-19: «Maurice a le plus fort taux de mortalité sur le continent Africain», dit Arvin Boolell

7 mai 2020, 12:30

Par

Partager cet article

Facebook X WhatsApp

Covid-19: «Maurice a le plus fort taux de mortalité sur le continent Africain», dit Arvin Boolell

Maurice ne figure pas parmi les 10 pays du continent Africain qui ont le mieux géré la pandémie. C'est ce que dit Arvin Boolell dans un post publié sur sa page Facebook ce jeudi 7 mai. Dans la foulée, le leader de l’opposition fait ressortir que Maurice a le plus fort taux de mortalité sur le continent.

Les raisons qui expliquent ces chiffres sont multiples, avance Arvin Boolell. Fermeture tardive des frontières, manque de préparation et d’équipements, traitements de faveur…  Voici le poste dans son intégralité:

THE FAILURE OF POLICY

PM may make as many statements as he likes but the facts remain that amongst countries in the Indian Ocean, and on African Continent we have the worse mortality record in overall numbers set against population size. Seychelles, Reunion, Madagascar have none and the Maldives with the highest number of confirmed cases has one death. On the African Continent, we are not even ranked amongst the ten best on policy handling of Coronavirus.

FIRST PNQ

You may recall the first PNQ was asked on 3/2 and the Epidemic was of International Concern since early January. On 23/1 a Meeting was casually held at Ministry of Health but no appropriate policy was put in place. Earlier on I had drawn the attention of Minister of Foreign Affairs to the plight of Mauritian students in WUHAN and I made it clear to the Minister that the sooner they would be repatriated the better it would be. I raised the alarm bell way before there was any seriousness of purpose from Government.

UNPREPARED

We were caught unprepared and management was poor. There was no abled team at the level of Ministry, hardly any Command and Control. The Ministry since January has had several SCE, no CMO as of now. The Minister of Health in his reply to PNQ of 3/2 stated that PPE was available and test kits had arrived. The reality was different. The only PPE was of a limited number of a leftover stock since the H1N1 pandemic from a reliable supplier who has the network to fast track procedures to supply the equipment. With the surge in the Contagion in March when the outbreak had been declared a pandemic competition to acquire essential medicine, PPE, reliable tests had become fierce and Mauritius was desperate. There was pandemonium and our hospital's staff were deeply concerned as the overwhelming of Health care was becoming a reality.

BORDER CLOSURE

Taskforce under PM was late to act. The border should have been closed from the time FRANCE became the EPICENTER. INSTEAD, OUR POLICY WAS ONE OF TOTAL CONTRADICTION and sent conflicting signals. While others were closing borders we were giving discounted rates to attract tourists to travel to our destination.

Surveillance and monitoring or Contact tracing were poor and tests conducted were minimal. There was no advance notice given in respect to the scheduled date of Confinement and many Mauritians were caught in the web and stranded overseas.

Protocol, options, datelines were not spelt out. If you put the question to Doctors and Nursing officers as to guidelines established for the smooth running of Quarantine and isolation centres they would forcefully say there was no clarity.

DIFFERENTIAL AND SPECIAL TREATMENT

Even on the 18/3 when it became compulsory for all returning passengers and staff of Air Mauritius to be quarantined or self-isolated many were deliberately given differential treatment. THE RISK WAS HIGH.

Do you remember the case of an asymptotic officer of PIO who reported to work and spread the infectious disorder? I am not going to mention the case of the super spreader who was sick on board according to the staff of Air Mauritius and allowed to go home without any follow up. We know how he infected a Doctor and many others. He landed in Mauritius in the first week of March when surveillance and monitoring were allegedly ramped up.

The Government had allowed the Coronavirus to become bad and not all the perfumes of Arabia will sweeten the hands of those guilty of complacency and low level of management.

TRUST AND TRUTH

Where is trust when there is no truth? Rapid Tests are not reliable but I grant anybody it is more of an indicator to assess the peak in relation to R rate which is a marker of infection. Again it was late coming and there is a lot of catching up because testing of at-risk cases has to be carried out. There are no reliable statistics on confirmed cases and morbidity and mortality rate. The Minister averred that many cases of pneumonic deaths had not been tested but stated that their close relatives were traced and tested. It remains to be seen if there were traces. Today social app has become an important tool to track and isolate and there is an increase in the number of infectious diseases detectives in Australia. The UK is going a big way on the app. I asked PM to bring the NATIONAL DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT UNIT as an adjunct to strengthen the task force but his reply was not unusual.

Action plan and roadmap were late comings. Figures were unreliable. Since mid-January till 3rd week of April, we have been slow to contain, delay and mitigate. On policy matters, we are paying the price of assembling the poor and the elderly in substandard dwellings and homes. As for migration workers they are herded In cramped dormitories. How many of these poor souls have been tested? What medical advice is or has been dispensed to them?

There has been a lack of testing capacity since early February despite the fact that mass testing and contact tracing remain the principal arm of policy. Yet with our experience of H1N1, we should have got our act right. Government has failed and it is not by juggling its misfortune with statements that it will have the trust of anybody.

LEADING BY EXAMPLE

On an issue of National, Emergency Government has failed to lead by example of SA President who has the trust of his people. He had the wisdom to set aside differences and bring the NATION together. In Mauritius, the agenda of Government is a narrow political agenda. One should recall that from the day the opposition has been making constructive criticisms and I like many others have placed the interests of our Country first.

MITIGATE

Thats why I put the private question to PM on 5/5 to impress upon him not to repeat the mishandling of the early outbreak. We cannot afford a second spike.

The risk assessment made by R. Imrith and other responsible trade Unions as to whether the workplace environment is conducive for employees to return to work progressively is telling indeed. We have to contain, mitigate and delay until the vaccine is produced. Physical distancing and PPE remain the mantra.

NO ONE SHOULD BE LEFT OUT

Finally, my attention has been drawn there is no provisions in the regulations of Public Health Act to include masons, carpenters bricklayers and when they apply for work access permit they may find themselves in a difficult predicament. Government has to address this issue otherwise they may be prevented to go to work when the restrictions are eased off on 15/5. They have to eke a living as the MOF has cruelly stated that they would no longer be entitled to wages assistance scheme of Rs 5100. If you refer to part (b) of the PNQ I pleaded for an increase to the meagre sum. The Opposition MPs joined the chorus with several questions put during QT to support the legitimate demand.