Hyderabad: Former Minister and ex-Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir demanded a high-level probe into the deaths of two patients who were allegedly denied oxygen and ventilator support at Chest Hospital.
Shabbir Ali, in a media statement on Tuesday, said that both the patients have recorded selfie videos explaining their health condition while alleging that they were being neglected by the hospital’s authorities. “The patients looked fully conscious and concerned in both the videos although they were recorded a few hours or minutes before their deaths. They exposed the poor treatment facilities at the Chest Hospital and negligent attitude of the government,” he said.
The Congress leader said instead of ordering a probe into the allegations, Health Minister Eatala Rajender has not only given clean chit to the hospital authorities, but found fault with the patients who complained of negligence which later resulted in their deaths. “Minister Rajender should not behave in such an insensitive and inhuman manner. Why would a patient in critical condition make false allegations against the hospital authorities?” he asked.
Shabbir Ali accused the Health Minister of misusing the medical terminology to mislead the people of Telangana. He said “Etala Rajender, while addressing a press conference on Monday, claimed that the patient died of cardiac arrest and not due to lack of oxygen therapy.”
He asked that if the Minister do a simple Google search to find out the factors that lead to cardiac arrest.
“In September last year, Minister Rajender tried to change the definition of dengue and called it ‘non-viral fever’ just to suppress the reality of hundreds of deaths in the state. This time, he is trying to twist medical terms to suppress corona-related deaths and cases. He should be ashamed of himself for displaying such an COVID-19 attitude,” he said.
He was quick to bring up the fate of journalist Manoj Kumar, who died of the virus and complained of medical negligence at Gandhi Hospital. His relatives then filed a police complaint in this regard.
The Congress leader demanded that a high-level independent probe by a medical team be ordered into both the deaths. He said that the selfie videos of both the patients should be treated as a ‘Dying Declaration’ and those responsible for their deaths should be severely punished.
“TRS leaders have crossed all limits in the arrogance of power and today they are not giving any importance to even human lives. For them, deaths and cases due to coronavirus or other diseases are just numbers which they are manipulating at their will. Etala Rajender should resign from his post on moral grounds if he has any humanity left or at least, he should refrain from attributing motives to the people who are complaining of negligence and lack of facilities. Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao and his ministers got addicted to the bad habit of self-praise. They first need to get de-addicted if they really want to serve the people,” he advised.
Shabbir Ali said that the Congress party would explore all legal means to seek justice for all the patients who died due to negligence by TRS Government.