NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, MAY 24
A day after Gujarat High Court gave a rap on the knuckles of Vijay Rupani-led Gujarat Government and Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel, who also holds the health portfolio. Congress on Sunday continued its scathing attack on the Gujarat government over the state’s “sick healthcare system” and also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the issue.
“Today, we don’t have a healthcare system (in the state); we have a sick system. The inefficiency of the Gujarat government in handling COVID crisis shows that it is undermining, under-confident, and under-achieving,” Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.
“It is my sad duty to bring to the country’s attention the deplorable and indefensible plight of medical and health facilities in Modi’s home state and in part of Shah’s constituency (4 assembly segments of Ahmadabad fall in Gandhinagar parliamentary constituency).”
The Congress leader said: “We would respectfully ask the PM, HM, GoI, and Gujarat CM – Are you even aware of what is happening in your own home state? If so, have you ever intervened, chastised, or punished the Gujarat government or does the latter have COVID immunity vaccine because they belong to the BJP?”
Singhvi said if such powerful people who control the levers of power were unable to provide justice on their home ground to the poor and needy, what could the rest of India’s teeming millions expect from them.
The Congress leader referred to Gujarat High Court observations on the “lack of PPE, shortage of ventilators, ICUs and isolating wards…” and “pathetic” conditions at the Civil Hospital, Ahmedabad.
He said that even the High Court had observed that state Health Minister “does not seem to be aware of what is going on, nor appears to have ever visited the hospital”.
The party also questioned why private testing of coronavirus suspected cases, even by authorised private institutions, was stopped by the Gujarat government which ordered that corona tests can be conducted only at government hospitals.
Singhvi pointed to the “proactive” role of the Bengal Governor but the “silence” of the Gujarat Governor on coronavirus situations in their respective states.
The observations of the Hon’ble Gujarat High Court on the conduct of the state government & present situation in public hospitals are extremely worrisome . It should serve as an eye opener for the governmenthttps://t.co/wmlh6NVBke
— Ahmed Patel Memorial (@ahmedpatel) May 24, 2020
Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel tweeted, “The observations of the Hon’ble Gujarat High Court on the conduct of the state government and present situation of public hospitals are extremely worrisome. It should serve as an eye-opener for the government.”
