Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) has welcomed the State government’s decision to allow private hospitals and labs to test and treat COVID-19 patients but has remarked that it is a response “too little and too late” in containing the spread of coronavirus in the State.
Speaking to media persons here on Monday, treasurer of TPCC Gudur Narayana Reddy said Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had delayed the decision to allow private hospitals and labs to conduct COVID-19 tests by about one-and-a-half months although the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) had authorised 18 private hospitals and laboratories in addition to nine government hospitals and institutions to conduct the tests.
He reminded that on April 6, he had appealed to the Chief Minister to issue guidelines to permit private labs to conduct coronavirus tests. “There were only 334 positive cases and 11 deaths on April 6. It took 69 days for KCR to wake up when the tally stands at 5,000 positive cases and 185 deaths,” he noted. Massive testing to trace the COVID-19 patients would have helped in their early treatment and would also have prevented the spread of coronavirus. However, KCR did not listen to any advice including that from the ICMR, he alleged.
Expressing concern over three TRS MLAs — Muthireddy Yadgiri Reddy (Jangaon), Bajireddy Goverdhan (Nizamabad Rural) and Bigala Ganesh Gupta (Nizamabad Urban) — testing positive for coronavirus Mr. Narayana Reddy prayed for their early recovery. He said the infection to the three MLAs and staff members of Health Minister Eatala Rajender, Finance Minister Harish Rao, GHMC Mayor B. Rammohan and others was the result of community transmission.
The Congress leader alleged that the Chief Minister had permitted COVID-19 tests and treatment in private hospitals only to justify the admission of the TRS MLAs in corporate hospitals.
