PANJIM: The internal feud between Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Health Minister Vishwajit Rane over alleged sharing of commission on Rs 22 crore order for procurement of Ivermectin 12-mg tablets resulted in `murder’ of COVID-19 patients in Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMC), charged GPCC president Girish Chodankar.
“The sad incident in GMC hospital has changed the full form on CM as ‘Chief Murderer’ and HM as ‘Hatchet Man’,” Chodankar said.
According to Chodankar, the order placed for the so-called prophylaxis treatment by the BJP government is the main reason for the collapse of health mechanism in the State in last fifteen days.
“The said order was placed by the Health Department in connivance with the chief minister’s office. But the problem started over share of the kickbacks,” he said.
“We have reliable information from the top sources that Chief Minister and Health Minister could not arrive at a consensus over sharing of 60% commission fixed on the purchase deal,” Chodankar said.
“It is a horrifying episode where both — Sawant and Rane spent their full-time and energy sabotaging each other’s moves trying to take revenge on each other which resulted in death of COVID-19 patients due to shortage of oxygen. Both of them stooped to a new low by blocking supply of oxygen to GMC to teach each other a lesson. This is completely against humanity,” stated Chodankar.
“The average market price for strip of 10 tablets of Ivermectin 12-mg tablet is Rs 370. With this rate each tablet would cost Rs 30 on an average. The government had announced 5 tablets for each person. Going by 15 lakh population of the State, 75 lakh tablets are actually required. This calculation brings the total procurement cost to Rs 22.50 crore,” he said.
“Despite me raising the issue on Tuesday on directions by World Health Organisation (WHO) clearly instructing that the tablets can be used strictly within clinical trials, neither the Chief Minister nor the Health Minister has issued any clarification till now. This proves that the order was placed without taking scientific and medical advice,” Chodankar claimed.
“Chief Minister Dr. Pramod Sawant and Health Minister Vishwajit Rane will go down in the history of Goa as murderers. They have no moral and legal right to continue in power even for a second,” he charged.
“We want people to watch what is happening in Goa and register it in their minds. We as opposition are doing our best to expose the misdeeds and sins of the government. Ultimately, people’s power will play the most important role in teaching this inhumane BJP government a lesson,” Chodankar added.
