Suspend Harish from Cabinet: TS BJP

Hyderabad: The State BJP on Tuesday demanded suspension of Health Minister T Harish Rao from the Cabinet and a thorough probe to unearth reasons that led to death of four prospective mothers while undergoing operations at a local government hospital in Ibrahimpatnam.

Addressing the media here State BJP secretary Dr S Prakash Reddy and official spokesperson J Sangappa alleged that the Health minister had visited different hospitals and took doctors to task in the presence of patients to make himself a hero. But facts were that shortage of staff, medicines and machinery were the problems ailing the health sector in the State for the past eight years, they charged.

Calling the deaths 'shameful' for the State government, the BJP leaders alleged that suspending the hospital superintendent and issuing memos to some official would not solve the issue. "Hospitals are not able to cope due to hundreds of staff vacancies. Also lack of quality machinery and medicines could be another problem that the hospitals have been facing, they pointed out. The government has not paid bills to companies supplying medicines for one year. This might force the companies to supply medicines compromising on quality, they said.

The BJP leaders alleged that the hospital where the deaths took place was not provided funds."The fate of primary health centres, other civil hospitals, and district hospitals across the State is the same".

Against this backdrop, they demanded removal of Harish Rao, a high-level probe into the functioning of the health sector in Telangana.

"As the majority of hospitals have stopped admitting patients under Arogyasri for the past four years, the poor and weaker sections have been going to government hospitals for deliveries. However, the deaths at Ibrahimpatnam caused fear among people to go to government hospitals", the leaders pointed out.