Shocking information came to the fore about the ministers of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra who availed COVID treatments in private hospitals with public money. Bills worth more than a crore rupees were paid by the state government to various private hospitals as the ministers preferred these hospitals over the government hospitals where common people were dying as they did not get any beds.
According to reports, a total of 18 ministers in the state government received treatment at private hospitals during the Corona period. Lakhs of rupees spent on this treatment were paid from the government exchequer. These 18 ministers spent a whopping Rs 1.39 crore for specialized treatment in private hospitals during the last two years when the state’s economy was in shambles and the common man wandered helplessly to get basic medical treatments in the COVID period. This treatment of ministers in the private hospitals has started a controversy in the state as all the bills were paid using public money.
Who are these ministers?
Out of these 18, the maximum nine ministers are from the Nationalist Congress Party of Sharad Pawar, followed by six from the Congress and three from the Shiv Sena. Importantly, this also includes health minister Rajesh Tope of the NCP. Rajesh Tope’s treatment has cost a whopping Rs 34 lakh and the money has also been paid from the government exchequer.
Along with Rajesh Tope, the other names include energy minister Dr. Nitin Raut (17 lakh 63 thousand), Rural Development Minister Hasan Mushrif (14 lakh 56 thousand), Minister of State for Revenue Abdul Sattar (12 lakh 56 thousand), Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad (11 lakh 76 thousand), Food and Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal (9 lakh 3 thousand), Animal Husbandry Minister Sunil Kedar (8 lakh 71 thousand), Water Resources Minister Jayant Patil (7 lakh 30 thousand), Industries Minister Subhash Desai (6 lakh 97 thousand) and Transport Minister Anil Parab (6 lakh 79 thousand).
Apart from this, the list also includes Ashok Chavan, Sanjay Bansode, and Vijay Wadettiwar. These ministers have received treatment up to Rs 2 lakh. Also, Tribal Development Minister K. C. Padvi has spent up to Rs 1 lakh. Minister of state Dattatreya Bharne, Minister of state for power Prajakt Tanpure, and Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik have received treatment for around 50,000.
Which hospitals did they prefer for COVID treatments over the government hospitals?
Most of the ministers availed their treatments in private hospitals. The list of these hospitals includes names like Bombay Hospital (41 lakh), Lilavati Hospital (26 lakh), Breach Candy Hospital (15 lakh), Jaslok Hospital (14 lakh), Fortis Hospital (12 lakh), Avanti Hospital (7 lakh), Global Hospital (4 lakh), Anideep Hospital (2 lakh). The numbers in the brackets are the bills in Rupees that the government of Maharashtra has paid to these hospitals from the common taxpayer’s hard-earned money.
It is notable that Maharashtra has witnessed the highest number of COVID cases and deaths across all the waves of the COVID-19 pandemic and the state government has been continuously alleging the center for lack of support comfortably ignoring the fact that it was the state that did not walk the guidelines set by the center; be it building up the oxygen plants or vaccination drives.
