VIJAYAWADA: YSRC chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday interacted with the patients of kidney ailments in PC Pally mandal in Prakasam district where the disease has become endemic.
Jagan Mohan Reddy, who visited Amaravati villages on Thursday as an expression of solidarity on the farmers’ protest against the state government’s move to acquire their lands for capital city, continued his tour of coastal districts on Friday.
In PC Pally, he interacted with the patients and launched a fresh offensive against Chandrababu Naidu government for its indifference towards the residents of the village. “In the last two years, as many as 424 people died of kidney ailments in Prakasam district but nothing has been done to address the problem," he said, adding that as soon as he comes to power, he would take special care about health of the people and ensure that no one gets steeped in debts for meeting medical expenses.
"I have told you in the past that I will take care of all your medical needs. If the doctor advises a patient to take rest at home, I will treat that also as treatment and pay," Jagan Reddy said.
Jagan Reddy, accusing Naidu of being indifferent to the needs of the people in the district, said the chief minister had issued two orders on Thursday for setting up dialysis units at three centres after learning that he was visiting the affected villages. This ad-hoc approach would not help, the YSRC chief said.
He was highly critical of the government for neglecting health care. "The health care scheme- Arogya Sri - is now in death bed in AP. It needs a budget of Rs 910 crore but only Rs 568 crore had been allotted. Of this, Rs 368 crore go towards payment of arrears to the hospitals," Jagan Reddy said.
Kidney patients poured out their difficulties to Jagan Reddy, saying that the dialysis treatment cost them up to Rs 24, 000 per month which they were unable to afford. Dialysis costs Rs 2, 000 to Rs 3, 000 for one session and a patient needs to have dialysis at least thrice a week, the patients said.
Reacting to their grievances, he recalled how his late father YS Rajasekhar Reddy had ensured that the poor would have access to corporate health care. But today, ambulances do not have any medical equipment. The Arogya Sri needs Rs 1,460 crore, he pointed out.
Sharing the grief of the fluorosis victims, he said that solution lay in completion of Velugonda project which would supply safe drinking water. "Late YSR had allocated Rs 4, 700 crore for the project but it has now turned into no one's baby. I do not understand why the government takes so long to set up dialysis units. Each unit does not cost more than Rs 10 lakh,” Jagan Reddy said.