Odisha: State should bear ECMO treatment expenses of patients, says Congress

BHUBANESWAR: Congress on Saturday demanded the state government to bear the expenditure of the patients who are going outside the state for costly ECMO treatment.
State Congress working president Pradeep Kumar Majhi said this while addressing the press here.
Majhi said persons like Amrit Pradhan, Dipak Das, Abhisekh Mohapatra, Sangram Jena and others are undergoing treatment in the hospitals outside the state, while Samir Pradhan like patients are struggling to save their lives without ECMO machine in the state.
“The state government should shift these patients outside for treatment by paying money from chief minister’s relief fund (CMRF). The Supreme Court has told that it is government’s duty to ensure affordable medical treatment for Covid-19 patients during this pandemic,” he added.
He also criticised the Centre’s vaccination policy.
State Congress spokesperson Sudarsan Das lashed out at the state government for allegedly hiding Covid death data. While quoting an RTI reply, he said 1288 bodies were cremated at the Satya Nagar crematorium in the capital city in September last year, but the government report revealed that 342 bodies were cremated during that month.
“The government should not indulge in hiding the number of fatalities due to Covid-19. It needs to make the correct data public,” he said, adding, “An ex-gratia amount of Rs 4 lakh should be given to next of the kin of the deceased Covid patients.
Samajawadi Party state president Rabi Behera on Saturday said many states including Odisha does not have ECMO machine in their state hospitals and the Centre’s AIIMS Bhubaneswar. In view of this, he urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to supply ECMO machine out of PM Care Fund.
BJD leaders could not be contacted to get comments on this issue.