Telangana govt should convert Khairtabad primary health centre into 100-bed COVID-19 hospital: AICC spokesperosn

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], May 22 : Congress national spokesperson Dr Sravan Kumar Dasoju on Saturday urged Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to immediately convert the 50-bed Urban Primary Health Centre (UPHC) in Khairtabad into a 100-bed COVID-19 hospital amid a surge in cases.
According to Dasoju, the Urban Primary Health Centre has all the facilities to treat COVID-19 patients.
Dasoju, who is also the Congress party in charge of Khairtabad Assembly constituency, visited Khairtabad UPHC and alleged apathy of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government towards the hospital constructed during the Congress regime.
"It is highly disturbing and worrying that the Chief Minister, who is expected to make effective use of healthcare facilities available in the state during a health emergency is indulging in publicity. K Chandrashekar Rao had visited Warangal and announced that he will construct a hospital after demolishing Warangal Central Jail.
"He had commented in the same way about Osmania Hospital in the past. Leave about demolishing, existing structures and constructing new hospitals, the CM should first make use of the existing health infrastructure facilities to deliver COVID-19 treatment, as people are suffering severely due to lack of beds and advance care facilities," Dasoju said.
"The negligence towards Urban Primary Health Centre at Khairtabad shows how callous and chaotic is TRS-led state government's handling of COVID-19 treatment in the state," the Congress leader alleged.
Dasoju said the 50-bed Urban Primary Health Centre at Khairtabad was constructed with an outlay of Rs 10 crore during former CM Kiran Kumar Reddy's regime in 2014.
"It has health care facilities like ECG and specialists like pulmonologist, radiologist, ophthalmologist, ENT specialist, senior physicians, nursing staff and others. But much to the agony of people, this hospital is being completely neglected and left idle. Only outpatient services are provided and no in-patient services are offered even at this crucial juncture, where people are desperately trying to get a hospital bed. Such is the mismanagement and callousness of TRS government that it is turning a blind eye to a government hospital in the centre of Hyderabad city and has left people to fend for themselves and fall prey for the private hospitals," he alleged.
Dasoju said the Chief Minister should immediately review the facilities available in all government hospitals and ensure their optimal utilisation. "TRS Government should immediately take stock of the facilities available at Khairtabad UPHC and turn it into a 100-bed COVID care centre as it will provide great relief to the poor and low-income people suffering from COVID in Hyderabad," he said.