HYDERABAD: Senior Congress leaders led by state president N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Monday observed “satyagraha deeksha” and demanded that the TRS government provide free treatment to the poor and middle class sections of society suffering with coronavirus and black fungus infections.
Uttam demanded that the state government implement High Court orders on recovering the excess charges collected by the private hospitals and return it to the patients.
Except for knee-jerk measures, the TRS government has not taken any stringent action on the private hospitals which have been fleecing the patients for Coronavirus and its related treatment, he alleged.
The BJP government at the centre and TRS government in the state have failed to control the spread of Covid-19.
Though 15 months have passed after the first wave of Covid-19 pandemic, the government failed to improve the medical infrastructure in the state, he said.
“Even today, there is a shortage for beds, oxygen, ventilators and medicines in government hospitals.
Several patients died in King Koti hospital due to shortage of oxygen.
There is no proper drinking water supply connection to Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences (TIMS) where 1500 patients are being treated.
Water is being supplied through tankers to the hospital,” Uttam said.
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In the past one year, about Rs 40,000 crore have been spent on irrigation projects by the government.
“Can’t the government spend a few hundreds of crores of rupees to provide free treatment to Covid-19 and black fungus infected patients by including its treatment in the Aarogyasri scheme,” he asked? If the Covid-19 treatment is added to the Aarogyasri scheme, it would benefit 85 per cent of the population of the state, Uttam added.