Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Friday targeted the second wave of Corona on the central government in the Lok Sabha. The health system in the country collapsed during the second wave of the Corona epidemic in April-May last year. People had to face other problems including lack of oxygen cylinders, beds in the hospital. In such a situation, the Congress MP asked the Center whether the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) misled Prime Minister Modi about the epidemic or did the PM mislead the organization?
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, “The Health Minister has responded in detail. I appreciate this. But there is also another side regarding the work of ICMR, which is called the nodal medical research agency of the country. For example, the issue of supermodels was discussed in the country at the time of COVID. It was published in ICMR’s General Indian General of Medical Research in October 2020. It was estimated that the peak of the epidemic passed in September 2020. By following the protocols, the infection can be controlled in the country by February 2021.
Adhir Ranjan further said, “The top officials of the government including the Prime Minister talked a lot about the supermodel. Modi had said in February 2021 that India’s fight against Corona inspired the rest of the world, but barely two months later, a devastating second wave hit India. During this, record cases of corona were reported. During this lakhs of people died and many people became seriously ill.
Adhir Ranjan then asked the question, “I want to ask the minister whether ICMR misled the Prime Minister or did the Prime Minister himself mislead ICMR. Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said in his reply that India faced the third wave of corona caused by Omicron because of the research institute ICMR.
Mandaviya said, “The number of deaths in the third Covid wave in the world was more or less similar to the second wave. But the third wave in India did not cause much trouble. This is because majority of the population was vaccinated and the vaccine was made indigenously.” He said that the institute would continue to do research not only on COVID management but also on other types of medical research.