Stumped by the rising toll due to swine flu in the city, the Telangana Rashtra Samiti government was forced to go into damage control mode on Wednesday with the Chief Minister K .Chandrasekhar Rao directly swinging into action to take control of the situation.
The TRS government was clearly on the back foot and forced to respond to the situation. The first thing the Chief Minister did was to convene an emergency meeting. Realising that the government hospitals were ill-equipped to handle the cases, Mr. Rao spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking Central intervention. Simultaneously, Health Secretary Suresh Chandra rushed to Delhi to meet officials.
During the review meeting, the Chief Minister found fault with officials for mishandling the situation. “Issues which should have been handled at your level are brought to me for redressal. Officials are unable to give me even the exact number of area hospitals. Is it the way your department functions?” he fumed at officials, according to sources.
Sources told The Hindu that Mr. Rao was annoyed at the failure of officials to anticipate the situation and act accordingly. “I am declaring a war on swine flu right now,” is how he had reacted in the morning.
