Hyderabad: State Congress president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy on Monday pleaded that the government provide free treatment to the poor and middle class segments for the Covid and Black Fungus diseases.
The party held a Satyagraha Deeksha at Gandhi Bhavan to press this plea. CLP leader in the Assembly Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, MLC T. Jeevan Reddy, former PCC president Ponnala Laxmaiah, MP Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, MLA T. Jayaprakash ‘Jagga’ Reddy, AICC secretary Madhu Yaski and several senior leaders participated in the Deeksha.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said similar satyagrahas would be organised at all Assembly constituency headquarters on June 14.
He urged the government to implement a High Court order that said the excess charges being collected by private hospitals should be recovered and given back to the patients.
It, he said, was shameful that though 15 months have gone by since the onset of the Covid pandemic, the government failed to improve the medical infrastructure in the state. There existed a shortage for beds, oxygen, ventilators and medicines.
Several patients have died in King Koti Hospital due to the shortage of oxygen. Till now, there was no drinking water supply at TIMS hospital where about 1,500 patients took treatment a day. Water is supplied through tankers to the hospital in the absence of water pipelines.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said though Bharat Biotech and Reddy Labs in Hyderabad are producing the vaccines for Covid-19, the state government failed to procure sufficient doses from them for the state.
He alleged that the ruling TRS party leaders have been receiving 8 per cent commission for the irrigation works in the state. In the past one year, about Rs 40,000 crore has been spent by the state on irrigation projects. “Can’t the government spend a few hundreds of crore to provide free treatment to Covid patients by adding this provision to Arogyasri scheme, he asked.
