In an interview with the BBC that was aired on Monday, Kerala Health Minister K.K. Shailaja made several factually incorrect statements while responding to a question about number of COVID19 deaths in Kerala.
Minister Shailaja mentioned that out of the 4 deaths in Kerala, 1 of them was from “Union Territory” Goa who had come to Kerala because of “no sufficient hospitals in Goa”.
She said “In our state’s calculation we have only 3 [deaths] because.. 1 is from Goa, the Union Territory, and he came for treatment in Kerala because there is no sufficient hospitals in Union Territory Goa.. and he died in our hospital.. But from Kerala, we have only 3 deaths and Central Government is adding that one Goa death also in our account. That is no problem. He came for treatment. He got the virus infection from Union Territory and he came for treatment in Kerala.”
However, the Kerala ISDP team and the Chief Minister’s Office of Goa confirmed that the said patient was not from Goa and did not travel from Goa for lack of health facilities.
In a series of tweets, Dr. Pramod Sawant, the CM of Goa mentioned that Goa has a dedicated COVID19 hospital and the 7 patients who tested positive recovered fully after receiving treatment from the said hospital. He added that the state continues to treat patients from Goa and other states.
I am appalled by the factually incorrect statements of Kerala Health Minister Smt. K. K. Shailaja Ji during her interview with the BBC regarding the death in Kerala of a COVID positive patient from Goa. @shailajateacher #GoaFightsCOVID19#IndiaFightsCOVID19
1/5 pic.twitter.com/1jFzpK2KYj— Dr. Pramod Sawant (@DrPramodPSawant) May 19, 2020
He said that Goa has outstanding healthcare facilities with Goa Medical College being one of the oldest and finest medical colleges in Asia, where for decades, large numbers of non-Goan patients from neighbouring states were getting treatment.
He also corrected Minister Shailaja that Goa is a full-fledged state and not a Union Territory.