BRS MLAs stopped from visiting Hyderabad's Gandhi Hospital, arrested

Hyderabad, Sep 23 (IANS) Several MLAs of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) were on Monday arrested by police at Gandhi Hospital here where they reached to investigate the maternal and infant deaths.

Former MLA Methuku Anand and MLA Kalvakuntla Sanjay were stopped from entering the government-run hospital and later arrested by the police.

Former Health Minister Rajaiah was arrested at Old MLA Quarters when he was leaving for Gandhi Hospital. MLA Palla Rajeshwar Reddy was placed under house arrest in Jubilee Hills.

Tension prevailed at the hospital when the BRS MLAs reached there to investigate the alleged rise in maternal and infant mortality rates but were stopped by police from entering the premises.

BRS Hyderabad city president and MLA Maganti Gopinath was also arrested at Gandhi Hospital. The MLAs were shifted to Narayanaguda Police Station.

The BRS constituted a three-member fact-finding team comprising Rajaiah, Anand and Sanjay to investigate the alleged deteriorating medical services in Telangana.

The opposition party earlier alleged that the government was trying to prevent the team from doing the job. It claimed that police reached the houses of the three leaders to stop them from leaving for Gandhi Hospital.

The BRS leaders wanted to know why the Congress government was afraid of the visit by the fact-finding team. They asked if the government feared that the facts relating to maternal and infant deaths at Gandhi Hospital would come to light.

The opposition party demanded that the government immediately stop this undemocratic action of preventing its team from visiting the hospitals.

BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao condemned the arrest of MLAs. He demanded their immediate release.

Rama Rao earlier posted on ‘X’ that the Congress government’s brazen attempt to block the fact-finding team of experienced doctors is a blatant attack on transparency and accountability.

“What are they hiding from the people of Telangana? Why this desperate attempt to silence truth-seekers investigating rising infant & maternal deaths and negligence in Gandhi Hospital?” he asked.

The former minister stated the idea of constituting this committee was to investigate what was happening with regard to healthcare in the entire state, starting with Gandhi Hospital.

“The report by these extremely experienced doctors will only help the government take the right decisions going forward. Is the Congress government afraid of being held accountable for their catastrophic failure in healthcare? The people deserve answers. No matter what CM Revanth Reddy and Congress think, the truth cannot be bulldozed or buried, and BRS will not rest or stop until the reality is exposed,” Rama Rao added in the post.