Coronavirus: While state struggles, 10 Karnataka MLAs seek reimbursement for COVID-19 medical expenses

In a letter written to the state government ten Karnataka MLAs who have recovered from Covid-19 have sought reimbursement for their Covid-19 medical expenses.

Bengaluru: While coronavirus is rampant across Karnataka and the officials and healthcare workers and struggling to contain the deadly virus, the state government is incurring losses in terms of crores.

Karnataka government though Unlock 5 opened up all establishments to bring the economy back on track. However, in a letter written to the state government ten Karnataka MLAs who have recovered from Covid-19 have sought reimbursement for their Covid-19 medical expenses.

Earlier, Karnataka Medical Education minister Dr K Sudhakar had asserted that the state would pay the medical bills of Covid-19 patients referred to private hospitals after their registration at government ones.

The MLAs too have the right to claim reimbursement of the medical expenses from the government.

However, at such a time of crisis when the government is tiptoeing to get the economy slightly up, the MLAs have demanded reimbursement of not just their medical expenses but that of their family members as well.

These are the MLAs who have sought reimbursement for their Covid-19 medical expenses.

The medical bills of these MLAs and their families run into lakhs. Ten MLAs and their family members’ hospital bills sum up to around Rs 35 lakh.

The coronavirus infections in Karnataka breached the 7-lakh mark with 10,517 fresh cases on Saturday whereas 102 fatalities took the death toll to 9,891.

The cumulative count in the state now stood at 7,00,786 comprising 5,69,947 discharges including 8,337 on Saturday.

Active cases stood at 1,20,929 including 892 in the ICU.