COVID management: Telangana Guv holds discussion with private hospitals

Hyderabad -  At a time when Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao is coming under mounting criticism from the opposition for his alleged failure to check the spread of coronavirus in the state, Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan is asserting herself by calling meetings over the situation.

In a move that is likely to irk the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government, the Governor on Tuesday interacted with the management of private hospitals treating Covid patients amid increasing public complaints about lack of beds and excessive billing by them.

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Soundararajan had tweeted on Monday that she will be interacting with private hospitals regarding Covid management and public grievances about beds, billings, testing etc.

According to a tweet from Soundararajan''s handle, she interacted with various hospitals include Care Hospitals, AKIMS Hospital, Basavatarakam Indo-American Cancer Hospital, Sunshine Hospitals, Kamineni Academy of Medical Science, Virinchi Hospitals, Global Hospital, Apollo Hospitals, Malla Reddy Narayana Hospital, Yashoda Hospitals and Continental Hospitals.

She had also tweeted on Monday that she called the Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary, Health to discuss the Covid situation prevailing across the state.

However, it is learnt that both the officials conveyed that they will not be able to visit Raj Bhavan due to their prior engagements.

"I am continuously on this job at various levels in the last 3 months," Soundararajan tweeted in response to a citizen hailing her initiative. She wrote that she gave suggestions to the government, visited Nizam''s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), discussed with Health University''s Vice Chancellor, member of Telangana State COVID team and superintendents of Covid care government hospitals.

"True" was her reply to a comment by someone that the first citizen of Telangana has taken Covid seriously.

She replied "noted" to various suggestions including the suggestion to re-impose lockdown in Hyderabad in view of the big spike in Covid cases in the state capital.

On Sunday, she voiced concern over the growing number of Covid cases in the state. "Follow 5Ts... Trace Track Test Treat &Teach ......... Revised strategy need of the hour... Focus on preventing fatalities among high risk & vulnerable populations of elders, diabetics, BP, heart, kidney, obese young & cancer," tweeted Soundararajan, herself a physician.

Some of the Governor''s recent moves and her statements on the handling of the situation and testing have not gone down well with the TRS government.

Some ruling party leaders have taken exception to the Governor holding meetings on subjects like education and health without informing officials.

During a meeting with health experts, she had expressed views on a number of issues including testing. The TRS feels that her remarks are providing ammunition to the opposition to target the government.

Meanwhile, state Congress chief Uttam Kumar Reddy slammed Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar for ignoring the call by the Governor.

He said that the Chief Secretary violated the Constitution by not attending the meeting convened by the Governor and demanded action against him.

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