New Delhi, Aug 21 (Inditop.com) Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad Friday lost his cool and hit out at “bloody” state health ministers for not doing enough to contain the spread of the H1N1 virus in India.
“Bloody, hum yahan par 20-24 ghante kaam karte hai aur aap aish karte ho (Bloody, we are working 20 to 24 hours. And you people are enjoying yourselves),” Azad said at a meeting of state health ministers here.
Stunned silence followed the outburst, but Azad was unfazed and continued to scold the gathering.
“You must wake up as soon as possible,” said the health minister after reading out from his written speech.
“Hum teen mahine se aap ko jhel rahe hai (For the past three months, we are tolerating you people),” he added.
The meeting was on the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), the flagship programme of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government that was launched in 2005 and is aimed at providing quality healthcare to the rural populace.
Azad, after speaking on the NRHM for a few minutes, went on to discuss the swine flu pandemic that has killed 36 people in the country and infected 2,064 people.
Reacting angrily to Azad’s remark, Gujarat Health Minister Jaynarayan Vyas said: “This is the wrong language and not befitting a union minister. He is behaving like a headmaster and this is not the procedure in the federal system.”
“We all know that there is a pandemic in the country. And the state and centre must cooperate… Bloody is an unparliamentary word. This is not fair on his (Azad) part,” Vyas, who had come outside the meeting hall after the health minister’s address, told reporters.
Vyas said he asked the union health minister “why he had used such language and he replied that it was not meant for all (state health ministers)”.
“Even if a state is performing the worst and is the biggest defaulter of all, why use such language… The union health minister could have briefed us over a cup of tea.”
rounak