Bandi demands sacking of Health Minister over botched family planning operations

HYDERABAD: BJP state president Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Tuesday demanded the immediate sacking of health minister T. Harish Rao, and the suspension of Director of Public Health Dr G. Srinivasa Rao for the botched family planning operations in Ibrahimpatnam that led to the death of four women.

Addressing a press conference, Sanjay said the death of the women shows how the TRS government and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao did not care about the lives of the poor. “The Director of Public Health is in-charge of such operations,” Sanjay said, and added, “but the government put him in charge of the investigation. This is like handing over the keys to the robbers.”

He said the investigation report was to be submitted within seven days but so far, no action has been taken on that front except suspension of the Ibrahimpatnam Government Hospital superintendent Dr Sridhar, who had nothing to do with the botched surgeries. Sanjay alleged that the Director of Health, “who faces charges for many irregularities, and believes that he will be made an MLC or an MLA by the ruling party, is being protected because every month he delivers cuts from the money he makes to the CM and the health minister.”

He added: “The CM cannot take any action against the health minister as the latter is his nephew.” The Chief Minister must sack Harish Rao and suspend Dr Srinivasa Rao immediately so people can hopefully regain some faith in the government. But the government dusted its hands off the issue by handing over `5 lakh to each of the families of the four women,” he said.

“Thirty-four family planning operations were done within an hour, and four women died. There was not a peep from any minster or ruling party MLA, no expression of sympathy, or visits to console the victims’ families, Sanjay said.

Sanjay also took the government to task on the continuing incidents of food poisoning in state run welfare schools and hostels, with the latest to join the list of such institutions being the ST Welfare Girls Hostel in Wardhannapet of Warangal district. Calling it abject neglect of schools and hostels, he said these institutions had no basic facilities and that the government goal “is to push even the poor families to send their children to private schools. Government schools have no teachers, staff, or even money to buy chalk pieces.”