Include COVID-19 treatment under Aargoyasri: Seethakka

Congress MLA launches fast along with NSUI president Venkat to press for the demand

Congress legislator from Mulugu D. Anasuya alias Seethakka has requested Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to include COVID-19 treatment under the Aarogyasri scheme so that members of many poor families succumbing to the virus infection due to their inability to bear the hospitalisation expenses could get cashless treatment. Ms. Seethakka, along with State president of National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), the students wing of Congress, B. Venkat launched an indefinite hunger strike at the Indira Park protest camp here on Monday demanding inclusion of COVID treatment under the Aarogyasri scheme and arranging free ambulance facility to bring COVID-positives to hospitals. Speaking at the protest held under the aegis of NSUI, she said the State government had agreed in the past to include COVID treatment under the Aarogyasri scheme after the first wave of the pandemic last year, but had been keeping silent on it since then. “There’s nothing valuable than people’s lives to any government and development does not mean building unwanted monuments – office complexes. It lies in the improved living standards of people,” she noted.