Over the past month, I have spoken to doctors across states in India for my series on non-Covid healthcare in the #lockdown. Govt doctors in Gujarat, UP, Bengal, Tamizh Nadu, Maharashtra have begun the conversation like this: "I can't talk about #COVID19 cases + deaths." >>

"Other things, we can discuss."
My stories have been about other things--HIV+, organ failure, cancer, the elderly, blood drying up in banks, mental healthcare--so we spoke. Typically, doctors in BJP-ruled states have requested anonymity if quoted.
In Bengal, in particular >>

there are rightfully questions about Covid data. They are being suppressed, it can't be so low for a state this big!
But I saw data censorship everywhere. That is why the introduction conversations were so similar across states: 'No covid talk. Other things are fine.' >>

Data lies are a rich Indian tradition. The Indian government and state govts have lied about malaria, dengue, TB--even raiding researcher's labs in the middle of the night to suppress information. Remember, even prominent Bollywood persona Yash Chopra's "dengue" death was >

shrouded in mystery as the Bombay authorities did not write dengue.
"A study in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine + Hygiene found that India under-reported dengue by a factor of 282 times, compared to other countries that under-report 10-30 times the actual number. >>

From my story on the Indian tradition of hiding communicable diseases in India, done several years ago.
Satyajit Ray even made a film on this -- Ganashatru -- hiding disease, and cloaking it with religion. https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2122517/india-do-not-ever-say-dengue

And the "other things" I spoke to doctors about are far from fine.
My thread of stories over the past four weeks ~ four print stories, and two video segments. Full thread https://twitter.com/sohinichat/status/1249203501605040130?s=19