Naidu's new <I>avtaar</I>

Naidu's new avtaar - health-buff
SANTWANA BHATTACHARYA

NEW DELHI, APRIL 15: The cyber-savvy Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu zipped in and out of the city in the space of a couple of hours, flooring the World Health Organisation (WHO) with his newest avtaar - the health-buff.

It was a private seminar organised by Ishwar Judge Ahluwalia's ICRIER and the WHO. And Naidu called for an overhaul and decentralisation of the health care programme to get better conditions by 2020 and unveiled his own Vision 2020.

However, Naidu also made the point that it is for the Centre to mobilise funds for complete eradication of diseases like polio and tuberculosis, which are pulling the country's health graph down.

Much to the delight of the WHO delegates, the Andhra CM said: "The fiscal and power sector projects in my state are designed to generate resources for health and education."

Incidentally, former finance minister and Congress leader Manmohan Singh (who sat through the session without batting an eyelid) chaired the session in which Naidu presented his highly specialised paper on information capsules).

It made the WHO Community Health Expert Dr Som Nguyen say: "`Mr Naidu spoke like a health minister. It is interesting to find a chief minister of a state ready to link macro-economic goals with health reforms."

However, the Andhra CM was quite categorical that no reforms in the health sector were possible without help from the national government. "There has to be a common strategy. The State Government cannot singlehandedly control polio and communicable diseases," Naidu later said.

Spelling out his Vision 2020 health care programme for his state, Naidu pointed out: "The combined burden of communicable and injurious diseases in India is weighing the economy down." He also showcased the better statistics for his own state, adding that whether it is polio or population, Andhra is on the path of better results.

Taking a short detour to Andhra Bhawan, before he took the 4.45 pm flight back to Hyderabad, Naidu ignored queries on the Jairam Ramesh-Andhra Economic Council issue. On his behalf, Telegu Desam Party (TDP) MP Yerran Naidu curtly said: "The CM has received Jairam's letter. He is looking for a replacement."