Nagpur: Alleging that Nagpur is being denied its share of vital Covid-19 medicines, senior BJP leaders from the city staged a sit down protest outside the district collectorate on Monday. Right from MLA Krishna Khopde to former energy minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule to ex-mayor Pravin Datke alleged that the state government has failed to handle the Covid-19 crisis because of its ‘short-sightedness’.
Speaking to TOI, Bawankule said that Nagpur did not get any new stock of Remdesivir on Sunday. “I checked with my sources in Thane, and apparently they are getting regular supply whereas patients in Nagpur are being made to run from pillar to post for the same. Bulk of the drugs seem to be getting diverted to Thane and Mumbai due to ‘political clout’. Also the shortage of beds, oxygen cylinders etc. is visible and is resulting in the deaths of people,” said Bawnkule.
In a statement, Khopde said, “As per the current Epidemic Act in effect, the local authorities have lot of power to implement things. But still, they are not doing enough to prepare the infrastructure required to deal with this second wave.”
Bawankule said that starting new Covid care facilities is neither costly, nor difficult. “We have so many BAMS doctors available in the district and the administration is not utilizing this amazing resource. It takes just around Rs 2.5 crore to set up a 50-bed hospital with oxygen concentrators in a hotel. All private hotels must be taken over by the local authorities and converted into health care facilities,” said Bawankule.
Regarding funds, the former Nagpur guardian minister said that there is “enough lying around”. Bawankule said, “There is a huge corpus of Rs 100 crore in the mining fund with the district collector. This is replenished regularly through royalty received from mining operations. By using this fund we can immediately convert 40 hotels into Covid Care Centres of 50 beds each.”
Bawankule said his party will intensify the agitation against the government if immediate steps are not taken to improve the situation in Nagpur. “For Remdisivir, if Thane politicians can ensure that their hospitals are getting enough supply then the same can be done for Nagpur as well. We are not saying that you deny this vital drug to patients there, but at least give Nagpurians their faire share,” said Bawankule.