Amid a fierce controversy between Maharashtra and the Centre over the discrimination in making available Covid-19 vaccine to it, former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Prithiviraj Chavan on Saturday alleged that the Narendra Modi Government was “lop-sided” and “politically biased” towards the State even in the supply of critical medical equipment like PPE kits, N95 masks and ventilators.
“Maharashtra has the highest COVID-19 caseload, but as the state Health Minister says we are facing step-motherly treatment from the Govt of India in the supply of vaccines, according to the State Health Minister. This is not only limited to the distribution of vaccines but also quantities of the critical medical equipment supplied to the state,” Chavan said.
Quoting a reply by the Government of Indian to a question in the Lok Sabha on the quantities of critical medical equipment supplied to each state as of February 10, 2021, Chavan said: “Gujarat got 9623 numbers of N95 masks per thousand Covid-19 patients as compared to Maharashtra, which got 1560 masks per thousand patients. Even UP got 3916 N95 masks, more than twice that of Maharashtra”.
“As far as PPE kits are concerned, Gujarat got 4951 kits per thousand, UP got 2446 kits while Maharashtra got just 223 kits,” Chavan said.
As far as ventilators are concerned, Gujarat was given 13 ventilators per 1000 patients, UP got 7 while Maharashtra got only 2 ventilators per thousand Covid-19 patients. Kerala got even less than Maharashtra on a per thousand patient basis,” he said.
“As per the Lok Sabha reply, in all the categories, Gujarat was given the lion's share of the supply of medical equipment which is disproportionate to the caseload,” Chavan said.
Slamming Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the discrimination shown towards the non-BJP-ruled states in the distribution of vaccines and critical medical equipment, Chavan said: “What is this if not discrimination based on politics? The Prime Minister seems to be forgetting that he is the PM of the entire country and not just Gujarat, UP and other BJP ruled states”.