Assam govt yet to charge money from COVID-19 patients: Himanta Biswa Sarma

Guwahati: Assam finance, health, and education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today said that the treatment of COVID-19 patients continues to be completely free in the state and not a single rupee has been charged from any of them. The state has so far registered 1,50,349 cases of the virus, out of which 1,21,610 patients have recovered and 528 died.

"To date, we have treated around 1.5 lakh COVID patients. Instead of taking money from them, we, in fact, bid them goodbye by giving them Horlicks or Chyawanprash packets as goodwill", Sarma, during his address during the launch of BJP Assam Pradesh E-Book 'Seva-Hi-Sangathan' at Rabindra Bhawan in Guwahati, said.

The Minister also lauded the role of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi for steering the country in the right direction during the crisis period. "The PM knew that many people would have to face some inconveniences during the lockdown. Keeping that in mind, the PM along with our President J P Nadda urged the BJP party members to offer up their services to the people", Sarma said, adding that the BJP has adopted "sewa" (service) as one of its key tenets in the post-COVID world.

The Minister, lauding the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said that immediately after announcing the lockdown, he had starting mulling how the poor and the needy could be helped to tide them over the crisis. Sarma further hailed the PM for his various initiatives and schemes for the poor which were announced when the country was facing a financial crunch.

Sarma also said that the PM has been mightily impressed with the Assam BJP unit's efforts in performing "sewa" and has recommended the documentation of these efforts. Thus, the Assam state BJP party has compiled these experiences in a book called "Seva Hi Sangathan", which will be available in e-platforms.

He also said that the BJP workers in the state have been organizing plasma donation camps for COVID-19 patients as a "humanitarian" effort. "I feel proud that I had discussed with the BJP President about arranging plasma for COVID patients. Although the BJP is a political party, we mused whether it was possible to undertake plasma donation drives", Sarma said.

BJP workers have organized such drives in as many as 4 Medical Colleges where plasma can be collected. "These efforts have saved the lives of as many as 2 people, for certain," he said, adding that a person connected to a rival political party had also survived the COVID-19 after receiving plasma collected from a saffron party member.

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