Expressing anguish over the ghastly incident at the government hospital in Guntur, the YSR Congress Party has demanded a high-level inquiry into the incident to find out the facts and bring the responsible persons to boo. It has also appealed to the people not to take the extreme step of committing suicide for special status as there are many avenues to register their protest.

“The ghastly incident at Guntur government hospital in which a new-born was attacked by rats is heinous and the minister stating that the doctors are not at fault even before the departmental inquiry began its proceedings is highly objectionable. We demand that an inquiry by a high level committee should be ordered to bring out the facts and the guilty should be punished,’ party MLC Ummareddy Venkateswarlu told reporters on Thursday.

Government announcing an ex-gratia and the mandatory departmental inquiry into the incident are not sufficient. “The Health Minister had visited the hospital and has seen the functioning and the incident brings to the fore the negligence on part of the officials. We demand that a high level committee should probe into the issue and bring out the facts,” he said.

“The Party hereby appeals to all the people of the state not to resort to suicide as it’s not the solution for getting special status. The issue can be sorted out by registering protests and should be achieved by putting up a stern fight but committing suicide is not an answer to the problem,” he said.

Citing the remark of Deputy Chief Minister KE Krishna Murthy that his ministry (Revenue) has nothing to do with the land acquisition for capital region, he said,
“does the land acquisition has the cabinet nod or not. The minister’s remarks clearly state that there was no cabinet approval and the state should clarify on this count.”