Congress Demands Probe Into Deaths At Chest Hospital

Former minister and ex-Leader of Opposition in the Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir demanded a high-level probe into the deaths of two patients who were allegedly denied oxygen and ventilator support at Chest Hospital.

Shabbir Ali said that the patients had both recorded selfies explaining their health conditions and alleging that they were being neglected by the hospital authorities.

"The patients looked fully conscious and concerned in both the videos although they were recorded a few hours or even minutes before their deaths. They exposed the poor treatment facilities at the Chest Hospital and the negligent attitude of the government," he said.

The Congress leader said that instead of ordering a probe into the allegations, Health Minister Etala Rajender had however not only given a clean chit to the hospital authorities, but had actually found fault with the patients who complained of the negligence that had later resulted in their deaths.

"Minister Rajender should not behave in such an insensitive and inhuman manner. Why would a patient in a critical condition make false allegations against the hospital authorities?" he asked.

Shabbir Ali accused the Health Minister of misusing medical terminology to mislead the people of Telangana. He said that Etala, while addressing a press conference on Monday, had claimed that the patient had died of cardiac arrest and not due to lack of oxygen therapy. He asked the minister to do a simple Google search to find out the factors that lead to cardiac arrest.

"In September last year, minister Rajender tried to change the definition of dengue and called it a 'non-viral fever' just to suppress the reality of the hundreds of deaths in the state. This time he is trying to twist medical terms to suppress Covid-19 deaths and cases. He should be ashamed of himself for displaying such an inhuman attitude," he said.

He pointed out that journalist Manoj Kumar, who had died of Covid-19, had also complained of medical negligence at Gandhi Hospital, and that the relatives had filed a police complaint in this regard.

"TRS leaders have crossed all limits in the arrogance of power and today they are not giving any importance to even human lives. For them, deaths and cases due to Covid-19 or other diseases are just numbers which they are manipulating at their will. Rajender should resign from his post on moral grounds if he has any humanity left - or at least restrain from attributing motives to people who are complaining of negligence and lack of facilities. Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and his ministers have gotten addicted to the bad habit of self-praise. They first need to get de-addicted if they really want to serve the people," he advised.

The Congress leader demanded that a high-level independent probe by a medical team be ordered into both the deaths. He said that the selfie videos of both the patients should be treated as dying declarations and those responsible for their deaths should be severely punished.

Shabbir Ali said that the Congress would explore all legal means to seek justice for all the patients who had died due to negligence by the TRS government.