With health dept in quarantine, MP struggles to tackle coronavirus pandemic

The Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led government in Madhya Pradesh is finding itself in a tight spot in combating the Covid-19 pandemic. There is no Cabinet in place, and thus no health minister. Besides, the state health department, which was supposed to lead the fight against coronavirus, is almost defunct, with several top officials, including Pallavi Jain Govil, principal secretary (health), and J Vijay Kumar, managing director of MP Health Corporation and chief executive officer of the state’s Ayushman Bharat programme, testing positive.

‘Health’ crisis

After Kumar and Govil were tested positive, the government’s first response was to downplay the news. This resulted in