MADURAI: Madurai MP Su Venkatesan, who was first in the State to allocate the MP Local Area Development Fund for the procurement of medical equipment worth Rs 56.17 lakh, handed over the procured equipment to Collector T G Vinay here on Wednesday.
In a communication dated March 25, the MP allocated the amount to procure the 17 types of medical equipment for the COVID-19 ward at the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH). He told media persons, “The National Institute of Virology has assured to send 1,000 PPE kits every week to GRH.” Venkatesan condemned the Centre's announcement to ban the MP fund for next two years and asked the government to pay the salary of 108-ambulance drivers in advance.
Condemning the plan to export medicines to the US, he said, “The population of India is four times larger than that of the US. When the US president demanded the export with a threat of retaliation, the Indian government, without giving a second thought about our needs, agreed to the export.”