KCR Must Provide Free Covid-19 Treatment: Congress

TPCC chief and Nalgonda MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy today demanded that the KCR government provide free treatment to the poor and middle class people for Covid-19 and Black Fungus.

Addressing a Satyagraha Deeksha, organised by the TPCC at the Gandhi Bhavan to demand free Covid-19 and Black Fungus treatment to all the BPL families in the state, Reddy announced that the Deeksha would be organised at every constituency headquarter on June 14 where similar demands would be raised.

"The government must also implement the orders of the Telangana High Court which said that the excess charges being collected from the people by the management of private hospitals should be recovered and returned to the patients. We were expecting that the government would voluntarily come forward to implement the orders. Sadly, it has not even responded on the matter so far. Hence, we strongly demand that the government implement the court orders," he demanded.

"The KCR government only pretends like it is taking some action against the private hospitals as our party has been exerting pressure on it following the loot of the private hospitals. The CM has been unable to respond to the issue though private hospitals have been looting the people in the name of providing Covid treatment. Where the Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu governments have been providing free treatment to Covid patients, the Telangana government has failed to take any action in that direction. The Kerala government too has been ensuring that patients can seek treatment for Covid in private hospitals at moderate and regulated charges," the Congress leader added.

He also criticised the BJP government at the Centre severely for "failing" to control the pandemic in the country, and said, "The Centre and the TRS government in the state have failed miserably in controlling the spread of Covid. Due to their lack of foresight and planning, the second wave spread like wildfire."

Reddy said that both the Modi and KCR governments had "grossly neglected" the public health emergency and had shown no commitment towards safeguarding the health of the people. He charged, "It is a shame for Modi and KCR that India has registered the highest number of Covid cases and deaths in world. It is shameful that though 15 months have gone by since the onset of the pandemic in the country, our state government has still not improved the medical infrastructure in Telangana. There is a shortage of beds, medical oxygen, ventilators and medicines as a result."

He pointed out that several patients had died at the King Koti Hospital due to the shortage of oxygen and that the TIMS, where about 1,500 patients are treated, was still getting water through tankers and not a stable supply system to bolster his point.

Further, the MP said that although Bharat Biotech and Reddy Labs, both based in Hyderabad, were producing Covid-19 vaccines, the state government was unable to procure sufficient stocks of doses for the state.

"It is in this context that our party has taken up a Satyagraha Deeksha in the Gandhian way as the government has repeatedly failed to address the shortage of beds, medical oxygen, ventilators and medicines. When I visited the Huzurnagar Government Hospital, I found that only seven doctors have been working there whereas 49 had been sanctioned to the facility," he explained.

Reddy alleged that the leaders of the ruling party were receiving 8% commissions for the irrigation works in the state and that the government had spent about Rs 40,000 crores in the past one year on irrigation projects, and wondered why it could not spend "a few hundred crores" to provide free treatment to Covid-19 patients by adding the disease to the list of ailments covered by the Arogyasri healthcare scheme. He claimed that the inclusion would benefit 85% of the state's population.

CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, MLC T Jeevan Reddy, former PCC president Ponnala Laxmaiah, MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, MLA T Jagga Reddy, AICC secretary Madhu Yashki Goud and several other senior leaders also participated in the Deeksha.