Not just vaccines, there was discrimination in distribution of critical medical equipment to Maharashtra: Prithviraj Chavan

The Central government discriminated in the distribution of critical medical equipment to Maharashtra, senior Maharashtra Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan said on Saturday.

In a press statement the former Maharashtra chief minister said, "In the face of the current controversy between the Centre and the Maharashtra Government on the availability of the Covid vaccine, information by the Centre confirms lopsided and politically biased distribution of critical medical equipment such as PPE kits, N95 masks and ventilators."

"Maharashtra has the highest Covid-19 caseload, but we are facing step-motherly treatment from the Government of India in supply of vaccines, according to the state health minister. 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 government of India has given details of the quantities of critical medical equipment supplied to each state as of February 10, 2021. If we project the total quantity supplied to each State over the patient caseload we get a shocking picture," the press statement read.

It 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. In PPE kits Gujarat got 4951 kits per thousand, UP got 2446 kits while Maharashtra got just 223 kits. In Ventilators 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. As per the Lok Sabha reply, 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. 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," Chavan questioned.

( With inputs from ANI )