Mumbai, Apr 10 (IANS): As the Centre and Maharashtra are engaged in a tug-of-war over the supply of sufficient Covid-19 vaccines, the state Congress on Saturday accused the Centre of discrimination in the distribution of medical supplies like PPE kits, N95 masks and ventilators, here on Saturday.
Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said that despite the state having the highest Corona caseload, it is facing a 'stepmotherly treatment' from the centre in various essential supplies for Covid-19, while states ruled by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are getting a lion's share, citing a Lok Sabha reply of Feb. 10.
"This is not only limited to the distribution of vaccines, but as can be seen in a reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, in which the Govt of India has given details of the quantities of critical medical equipment supplied to each state. If we project the total quantity supplied to each State over the patient caseload, we get a shocking picture," said Chavan.
Citing the example of Gujarat, he said the state got 9,623 N95 masks per thousand Covid patients, UP got 3,916/1000 Covid patients, compared with Maharashtra which got only 1,560 masks per 1000 patients.
Similarly, Gujarat got 4,951 PPEs/1000 patients, UP got 2,446/1000 patients and Maharashtra just 223/1000 patients PPE kits, Chavan said.
On ventilators, Gujarat got 13/1000 patients, UP was given 7 and Maharashtra only 2/1000 patients, and Kerala got even lesser than Maharashtra on a per-thousands basis, he pointed out.
"As per the Lok Sabha reply (Feb. 10, 2021), in all the categories, Gujarat was given the lion's share of supply of medical equipment which is disproportionate to case load. What is this if not discrimination on the basis of politics," Chavan said.
He said the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) seems to be forgetting that he is the PM of the entire country and not just Gujarat, UP or other BJP-ruled states.
Maharashtra currently has 534,603 Covid-19 'active cases', a progressive tally of 32,88,540 cases and 57,329 deaths, all highest in the country, with Mumbai and Pune as the worst-hit hotspots.