Provide death statistics: Lawyer

The National National

By ELIAS LARI
HUMAN rights lawyer Danny Gonol has asked the Western Highlands health authority to present statistics on the total deaths related to the Coronavirus (Covid-19) and other lifestyle diseases from last March.
This came after he filed a writ in the National Court in Mt Hagen to determine legal issues arising from the pandemic.
Gonol said the court would also determine whether citizens’ rights under the Constitution had been breached.
“Only the court has the jurisdiction to deal with the issue under Section 57 of the Constitution,” he said.
He said it was noted that the Government had taken serious steps to address the pandemic while many citizens were dying from other curable diseases as well.
“Almost every day, since the pandemic hit our shores, more information is released in both the print and electronic media and the number of deaths is said to be increasing daily,” Gonol said.
“Therefore, we (lawyers) are filing this court action to determine arising legal issues and we would like to ask the authority to come forward with the total number of deaths since March last year.”
Gonol said the number of deaths had been increasing in the country with Covid-19 and from other lifestyle diseases as well.
“This group of human rights lawyers in Papua New Guinea and the Asia Pacific are among the team of lawyers who are aware of the Government Covid-19 programmes and have also received so many calls from Papua New Guineans,” he said.
“We urge the authority to produce to us the statistics and data from the Mt Hagen Hospital.
“We will also be pleased to have the statistics for the deaths arising from other diseases for the same period such as malaria, tuberculosis, cancer, common flu, diabetes and heart diseases.
Gonol added that the court would be asked to determine whether the people’s rights had been breached during the Covid-19 vaccination rollout programmes.
“There have been many issues involving people’s rights which have been overlooked since the Covid-19 programmes, including the nationwide vaccination,” he said.