By Ajith Siriwardana  

Former JVP MP- Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa yesterday urged the Health Ministry Secretary, Director General of Health Services and Chief Epidemiologist not to become a cat’s paw of the Government by issuing manipulated data and statistics of the Covid mortality and positive cases.  

He told a news Conference that the three officials as the head of the Health Ministry had a responsibility to reveal the true statistics pertaining to the pandemic as they had studied from the taxpayers money.  

“We appeal to them to respect what they had learnt. Don’t become machines which spread false statistics on the Government’s political agendas.You have a responsibility on behalf of the people. 

You need to reveal the true information you receive. We know that you remain silent in the presence the President and Covid Task Force.That silence resulted in losing people’s lives day by day. As such, we urge the three of you as the heads of the Health Ministry to reveal the truth,” he said.   
He said revealing true statistics will help save many lives of people and force them to a self-lockdown.   Dr. Jayatissa said data and information on Covid deaths and positive cases were manipulated on the requirement of the President.  

He also said that the President had got the Health Ministry officials to convince people that the virus had not spread in the community as yet.  

He said not only the physical resources such as the ICU, Oxygen and ventilators but also human resources were also becoming insufficient to treat the escalating number of Covid patients.

  
“ The hospital staff is also becoming prey to Covid-19. More than 200 doctors and 4,000 nurses and minor staff have been infected with the virus. This only shows that the hospitals cannot afford the spike in Covid cases,” he said.