Lack of vigilance by Health dept. leads to spread of infectious diseases in Kerala Surendran

He says rehabilitation of the landslides-affected in Wayanad getting delayed due to government’s ineptitude in submitting estimates about relief work already done

Bharatiya Janata Party State president K. Surendran has blamed Health Minister Veena George for the “lack of vigilance” by the Health department, which has led to a situation wherein various infectious diseases, including Nipah and Mpox, are spreading in Kerala.

He said that the Health department was not doing enough to prevent and control any infectious diseases. He said in a statement here that the Union Health Ministry had issued a directive to all States as soon as the first Mpox case was reported to take adequate precautions. Yet the State failed to take proper preventive measures and now the people were anxious that all diseases were surfacing in the State, he alleged.

He stated that Kerala would end up paying a huge price for its laxity in health sector, just as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wayanad rehabilitation

Mr. Surendran also blamed Public Works Minister P.A. Mohamed Riyas for not applying due diligence regarding the rehabilitation of people in Wayanad. The rehabilitation of the landslides-affected people in Wayanad was getting delayed because of the government’s ineptitude in submitting estimates about the relief work already done, Mr. Sureandran said. Instead of submitting inflated bills, the government should submit credible estimates on what had been spent, he said. The Cabinet subcommittee should come clean on what it did during the disaster and how much relief amount they had asked the Centre. Mr. Surendran said Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal had nothing to say about ₹5,000 crore the State received from the Centre during Onam. He claimed that ₹1,200 crore out of the ₹1,700 crore in the State disaster relief fund had been provided by the Centre.

He added that the simultaneous polls proposed by the Centre would go a long way in reducing wasteful expenditure on elections.

Published - September 19, 2024 08:38 pm IST