The Telangana government should permit the ambulances carrying COVID-19 patients from Andhra Pradesh to Hyderabad on humanitarian grounds, said Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, Adviser (Public Affais), on Friday.
Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had spoken with his Telangana counterpart K. Chandrasekhar Rao to sort the issue, Mr. Ramakrishna Reddy told the media here.
“A neighbouring State should reach out to other States in the hour of crisis. It is unfortunate that the Telangana government is restricting even ambulances and insisting on hospital letters and passes, which is not possible in the current situation. It is common for people to move to bigger cities, where they have access to better medical infrastructure. Hyderabad has many super speciality hospitals. Being a neighbouring State, Telangana should treat with humanity,” said Mr. Ramakrishna Reddy.
“Patients from Andhra Pradesh have been going for better treatment to Chennai and Bengaluru. But problems are arising only on the Telangana border,” he observed.
Dig at Naidu
Referring to the A.P. Reorganisation Act, he said, post bifurcation, Andhra Pradesh had been left with neither Tier-1 cities nor best medical infrastructure.
The previous government had wasted five years and failed to develop infrastructure in a single city. Had former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu developed at least one super speciality hospital during his term, people of Andhra Pradesh would not have faced these hurdles, he said.
“The State government has been relentlessly working to contain the spread of COVID-19, provide better medical facilities, get people vaccinated, and ensure that there are no lapses in delivering welfare schemes even during the pandemic times,” Mr. Ramakrishna Reddy said.
The State government had spent ₹5,000 crore for providing treatment to COVID-19 patients. In the last 23 months, the government had directly credited ₹89,000 crore into the bank accounts of beneficiaries under various schemes, he said.
He accused the TDP of intentionally spreading rumours against the government to create panic among people.