Congress has no right to criticise working of govt hospitals: Harish

Hyderabad: Asserting that the Congress party had no right to criticise working of government hospitals, Health Minister T Harish Rao on Thursday said that Telangana was third in the country in providing medical facilities to people.

Rao, along with Minister T Srinivas Yadav, visited the Ameerpet 50-bed hospital. The minister said during the Congress regime, the slogan used to be 'I will not go to Sarkar Dawakhana', but now people want to go to government hospitals. He said it was not proper for Congress leader J Geeta Reddy to resort to criticism, being a doctor herself. He said Jagga Reddy knows better about services in government hospitals.

Rao stated that the CM created confidence among patients during the Corona pandemic by visiting Gandhi Hospital and also announcing and releasing Rs 200 crore. "There was nothing wrong in following the best schemes of other States." He asked why the Congress did not bother to get a new medical college for the State. "There were only three medical colleges during the Congress regime. Since 2014 the government has taken steps to set up 33 medical colleges. Why would children go to Ukraine and China if there were medical colleges in the State, he asked.

About beds and facilities, the minister said in 2014 there were 17,000 beds; now there are 27,000 beds in the State. "There are over 15 lakh deliveries in government hospitals. The assistance under Arogyasri has been increased from Rs 2 to Rs 5 lakh and 3.6 lakh people utilised the service spending Rs 850 crore," he said. He recalled the government was setting up four super-specialty hospitals in the city. There would be 6,000 super-specialty beds in the city alone.