HYDERABAD: Telangana Health Minister Eatala Rajender slammed the Centre on Thursday for being ‘partisan’ towards Telangana by not ensuring enough supplies of oxygen, Remdesivir and vaccines to the State. Rajender, addressing mediapersons, said that on Wednesday evening, they were shocked to know that the Centre had taken control over supplying Remdesivir to the States, which had cast doubts on whether the orders placed by Telangana would be delivered.
“We had placed an order for four lakh Remdesivir vials, but the Centre now says that till April 30, it would supply only 21,551 vials. I don’t understand the rationale for this allocation,” the Minister said.
He said it was unfortunate that the Centre had cold-shouldered the State government’s request at a time when it was saddled with the burden of treating additional patients from four States — Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
He said many patients from these States come to Hyderabad as it was close to parts of these States and also a health hub. “The Centre should keep this in mind while deciding on the quota,” he said.
Rajender further stated that the State was getting some of its oxygen requirement — about 260-270 metric tonnes — from Bhilai in Chhattisgarh, which was quite far. “We have been told that we will receive oxygen from Hospet (30 metric tonnes), Bellary (25+20), Odisha (20+40+24) and Tamil Nadu (35+20). Tamil Nadu plants have not given us anything.
The plant in Odisha is too far and is not able to send oxygen on time as special tankers are in short supply. We have asked Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan to provide oxygen from either Visakhapatnam, Bellary, or any nearby place. We have also told the Centre if they don’t change the locations, they will be responsible in case of a shortage in Telangana,” he added.
Centre could have avoided crisis: Eatala
The Minister criticised the Centre’s attitude in supplying vaccines too. “In the past few days, Gujarat was given 1.63 lakh vaccines and Maharashtra got 2 lakh, but Telangana got only 25,000 doses. If this attitude continues, we too can say that medicines produced in Telangana will not be sent out. But we are not doing that as nation comes first to us. Had the Centre given money earlier and ramped up production, we would not have seen this crisis,” he said.
Rajender also took the Centre to task for its differential pricing model for Phase III of the vaccine drive. “Is this the way to tackle the issue? I don’t get this logic of the State having to pay `400 for a vaccine while the Centre pays only `150 for the same vaccine,” he added. He did not clarify if the State had plans to administer the vaccine to 18-45 year age groups free of cost.