Raipur, Jul 26 (PTI) Opposition Congress on Friday staged a walk out in the Chhattisgarh assembly accusing the state government of failing to provide proper health facilities to people and take preventive measures against the surge of rainy season diseases in the state.
MLA Motilal Sahu of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) raised the issue of deaths of people due to malaria and diarrhoea in the state and sought the government’s response.
Congress members also targeted the government, claiming that the cases of the water-borne and vector-borne disease are on surge in the state.
In his reply, Health and Family Welfare Minister Shyambihari Jaiswal said it was incorrect to say that the health system has collapsed as soon as the monsoon arrived in the state.
The truth is that the government has been working sensitively to ensure the prevention of diarrhoea and malaria, he said.
Detailed guidelines were issued on February 27 and June 7 for the prevention of malaria and diarrhoea and an action plan has been prepared by doing inter-departmental coordination, he said.
A total of 1,015 Rapid Response Teams have been formed and 1371 inaccessible villages and 1,183 epidemic prone villages were identified in the rainy season. Full stock of medicines has been arranged, he said.
Countering the charges further, the minister said it is incorrect to say that in the last one week, thousands of people were found to be suffering from malaria and diarrhoea in the entire state, including Bilaspur, Bijapur, Durg, Kawardha, Janjgir-Champa districts, and they are not getting adequate treatment.
The minister also talked about the number of tests carried out and patients identified with malaria and diarrhoea in these districts and measures taken to contain the diseases.
As a result of implementation of Malaria Free Chhattisgarh Campaign, the Annual Parasite Index (API) has come down from 7.29 per thousand population in 2019 to 3.98 per thousand. This has been achieved through rapid fever survey, mass survey, publicity, source control, complete treatment and use of long-term anti-mosquito insecticide, coated mosquito net, he said.
Thereafter, Bhupesh Baghel asked why the government has been trying to cover up the malaria and diarrhoea deaths.
Even the Chhattisgarh High Court has taken suo motu cognisance of the surge in cases of malaria and diarrhea in the state and served notices to concerned authorities, he said.
Baghel also sought to know the number of tests conducted to curb malaria and deaths that occurred due to the disease.
The minister said 35.71 lakh tests were carried out to check malaria and 12,242 persons were found to be positive for the disease. Fifteen deaths were reported due to the disease, he said.
The Congress members accused the government of failing to effectively handle the situation and later staged a walkout from the House expressing dissatisfaction over the minister’s reply. PTI TKP NP
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