Telangana Health Minister Eatala Rajender on Friday launched a scathing attack on BJP leaders who had criticised the state government over how it is handling the COVID-19 pandemic. The TRS leader, instead, chose to point fingers at the BJP-led union government for the crisis.
“I want to ask the BJP leaders: Isn’t Delhi police under your control? Why did you allow the Markaz gathering when the disease was spreading globally? Aware that international delegates are coming. Knowing that the disease could spread during the congregation. It was you who gave the permission. You acted irresponsibly,” Eatala lashed out.
He stressed that Telangana was the first state to identify the cluster from the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi and notify it to the Union government. “We traced 1244 Markaz participants. Our police and health staff were assaulted during this exercise. Braving all this, we identified and tested them, in which more than 250 persons were tested positive. Over 10,000 persons came in contact with these people and were identified and tested. Today 90% of cases in Telangana are due to Markaz,” he said.
“This government wasn't in deep slumber, allowing people to congregate and hold a meeting,” he said, taking a dig at the BJP for allowing the congregation.
In March, before the national lockdown was imposed, the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, scheduled from March 8-22, which had several international delegates, was allowed to continue.
The Minister said that the state BJP does not have faith in their government. “When the Union Health Ministry is appreciating us, the BJP leaders are asking them if what they claim is true. They are doubting their own people. If they are not willing to believe them too, what do they want?”
Attacking the newly-appointed BJP state chief Bandi Sanjay, he said, “Some people are speaking to politicise, some are speaking to communalize the crisis. This won't work in Telangana. These ‘chillar politics’ won’t work. The rejected communal politics will also won't work.”
On Wednesday, soon after taking charge of the BJP state unit, Sanjay, infamous for his communal statements, alleged that the state is not doing adequate testing to “appease” members of a minority community. Sanjay alleged that the state government is concealing the number of cases and that lockdown is not implemented in Old City in Hyderabad, suggesting that Muslims were allowed to celebrate Ramzan while the Hindu festivals like Ugadi and Ram Navami weren’t allowed.
Rubbishing these allegations, Eatala stated that it is impossible to conceal COVID-19 cases or deaths.
The Congress also criticized the TRS-led government for not testing aggressively compared to other states like Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra etc. On an average, the Telangana health department is conducting only 200 tests per day.
TNM had earlier reported that at 547.54 tests per million population, the state was testing less than the national average of 636.89 tests per million people.
The government portal has stopped issuing testing data on total samples tested since Wednesday.
“The Indian Council for Medical Research has issued clear guidelines asking us not to do random tests, as it is not scientific,” said the Health Minister.
“If there is a COVID-19 patient in a family, if someone shows symptoms of the disease, we will definitely do tests. In case the positive patient is critical, that house and neighbourhood should be screened and tests conducted. As per the latest ICMR guidelines after conducting tests, if the patient is positive if he is symptomatic he will be admitted in the hospital. But, if he is not serious, they could be isolated at home and observed,” Eatala said.
Claiming the TRS government was efficiently tackling the crisis, Eatala said that they were the first state to ask for a ban on international flights, impose a 24-hour curfew and extend the lockdown until March 7. “Those who are unable to digest the success of Telangana are making these allegations. If Telangana didn’t strictly implement the lockdown, the situation would have been like Kannur or Guntur. Hyderabad is a huge city like Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai. If we didn't trace Markaz contacts and do tests, in the entire country, Hyderabad would have recorded the most number of cases,” Eatala said.
Meanwhile, the Minister announced that the state recorded six new COVID-19 cases and 22 patients recovered on Friday. Presently, the state has 552 active cases.