Hyderabad: The Congress today accused the TRS government of totally neglecting the Public Health sector in the State.
Addressing the media at Gandhi Bhavan, TPCC Official Spokesperson Syed Nizamuddin alleged that there was acute shortage of drugs in dispensaries across the State. He said all dispensaries were supplied drugs in February last year and no buffer stock was left in the dispensaries now. Those managing the dispensaries sent multiple reminders to the Health Department in August and also in November 2019 seeking fresh supplies. But, the State government took no measures to supply medicines.
He also said medicines were also not available in the ESI Hospitals.
Nizamuddin said the State Government slashed funding for several schemes due to ongoing economic crisis. However, he said Telangana might be the only State in the country, which has cut the funding for supply of medicines, including the life saving drugs. He said as against Rs 12 crore allocated in 2018-19 for ‘Life Saving Medicines and Disposables’, no allocation was made for 2019-20. Similarly, the budget of Rs. 18.27 crore allocated in 2018-19 was made ‘zero’ in 2019-20. Similarly, no budget was allocated for ‘Contingency Fund for PHCs and CHCs’ and ‘Epidemic Control Schemes’. Likewise, as against Rs. 10 crore allocated for ‘Assistance to NIMS for treatment of BPL families not covered under Aarogyasri’, only Rs. 1 crore was allocated this year. Further, the budget of Rs. 4 crore for ‘Life Saving Medicines and Disposable for NIMS’ was reduced from Rs. 4 crore in 2018-19 to Rs. 1 crore in 2019-20. He said the dispensaries and PHCs have no funds or medicines to treat the patients. Therefore, they are as good as closed, he said.
Nizamuddin demanded that the State Government allocate at least 10% of budget for Public Health in the forthcoming budget for 2020-21. Further, he said immediate measures should be taken to supply drugs and important disposables to all dispensaries across the State.
