Andhra Pradesh Governor Bishwabhusan Harichandan seems to have taken a cue from his Telangana counterpart Dr Tamilsai Soundararajan.
On Tuesday, he held a video-conference from Raj Bhavan in Vijaywada to take stock of the Covid-19 situation in the state.
In the video-conference, Andhra Pradesh Governor discussed in detail with Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney and principal secretary (health) to review the measures being initiated by the state government to combat the pandemic. Harichandan enquired from the top officials on testing, treatment and medical facilities in government hospitals. The video-conference was also attended by Medical, Health and Family Welfare commissioner K Bhaskar and Rajamouli.
Harichandan’s video-conference with Andhra Pradesh chief secretary comes in the wake of the state reporting more than 4,000 new coronavirus cases and 54 deaths during the last 24 hours, taking the total number of infections in the state to 53,724 and the fatalities to over 696. Last Saturday, the state reported record 3,963 new Covid-19 cases with 52 virus-related deaths.
In Telangana, Dr Tamilsai Soundararajan had been proactive in assessing the Covid-19 situation in the state. She had openly expressed her anguish and unhappiness over the KCR government’s handling of the pandemic. She also called Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar and Special Chief Secretary (Health) Shanti Kumari to Raj Bhavan to assess the situation in the state. On several occasions, the Governor was openly critical of the government’s handling of Covid-19 situation in the state, patients being overcharged by private hospitals and lack of equipment in government hospitals. She criticised the government for not testing enough and advised the government to ramp up the testing in the state.
The Governor’s public criticism over the state’s response to the pandemic did not go down too well with Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao who met her at Raj Bhavan on July 20. The Telangana CM had discussed the measures the government has been taking to contain the spread of the virus, testing and treatment being given to the Covid-19 patients in various government hospitals in the state
