Click to play videoNew Delhi: The fight against swine flu virus has caught a political bug. Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and his Gujarat counterpart on Friday snapped at each other at a meeting to discuss the epidemic.
"Some states are doing good but majority of states have not done well. Instead of me chasing them, they must chase me. Health is a state matter and so each state is duty bound to protect the lives of their people," said Azad at a state health ministers' conference in New Delhi.
Azad alleged states were “chickening out” and the Central government was “stretching itself” in fighting the disease. "I would request the state government to spend more to improve the healthcare sector, but I am afraid if they are chickening out. I am afraid whatever I provide will not benefit much."
"I will talk to state Chief Ministers and Health Ministers to ask their Finance Ministers to improve the monetary allocation for health."
"It is unfortunate that state governments have failed to spend money (provided by the Centre)," Azad said.
"We (Centre) can go to a point, don't expect us to go beyond a point. This is the maximum limit we could stretch ourselves to. Beyond this the state governments should shoulder their responsibility which they haven't done," he said.
Gujarat Health Minister J N Vyas then said that Azad as a Union Minister should not have spoken against state governments. "We are not here to listen (to) these words. You are a federal minister and we look forward to you".
Azad replied, "I am saying only some states had not done enough."
India has detected 159 fresh H1N1 virus cases, taking the total number of people who have tested positive for the infection to 2,401. As many as 36 people died of the disease.
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