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| Azad slams states for 'sleeping' through swine flu |
| BS Reporter / New Delhi Aug 22, 2009, 00:15 IST |
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Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad today pulled up state governments for “sleeping” when the Centre was spending sleepless nights to combat swine flu but was snubbed by a Gujarat minister for slighting state governments.
Azad, who was addressing a review meeting of state health ministers and health secretaries on the National Rural Health Mission, went into a tirade which he later toned down after protests from some states.
He said the Centre had done enough and it could do no more. “We can go to a point don’t expect us to go beyond a point, he said. This is the maximum limit we could stretch ourselves. Beyond this, the state governments should shoulder their responsibility which they haven’t done,” the Union health minister said.
Contending that it was the Centre which was doing everything, including contact tracing, procuring medicines, looking for vaccines and training doctors, he said the states have forgotten their duty.
“While the Central officers are working so hard, I would expect state-level officers to at least sit till 10 pm and give some report and do something. It is because of our intervention at the national level that we have succeeded so far,” Azad said. He said that there was a limit for the Ministry of Health do this contact tracing and treating. “I would request all the ministries and secretaries to e active and identify the hospitals,” the minister said.
Swine flu claimed the lives of three more persons, including a CRPF jawan, the first fatality in security forces, raising the nationwide toll to 47 today.
Soon after Azad finished his speech, Gujarat Health Minister Jai Narayan Vyas commented that as a central minister, he (Azad) should not have made the remarks against state governments.
To this, Azad said he was not naming any state and some states had indeed done good work. He added that the Centre had issued advisories to states to be passed on to the public but the states have failed to do this. Azad said he had been trying to contact some health ministers but they had not returned his calls. He said states should have an institutionalised mechanism to deal with swine flu and shoulder their responsibilities, yet they were yet to even make available the required number of beds or doctors for the disease.
“It (swine flu) is a pandemic which the whole world is fighting. So, there is no question of one-upmanship here. Entire society has to stand united whether it is a doctor, or a minister or a journalist, we are working for a cause,” Vyas told Business Standard.
He said the Centre-state relationship in a federal structure is well-defined, based on mutual respect and understanding. “While we look for guidance from the Centre, someone saying that ‘we have been keeping awake for three months while you are sleeping’ is not right,” Vyas added.
“The minister is a nice person and I have nothing personal against him. But when it comes to holding your ground as a state person, one has to point out this,” he said.
Kerala Health Minister Srimathi Teacher said her state did not have a problem with the Centre on swine flu except that they needed testing facilities, a demand made by most states. The country at present has only 18 testing facilities.
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