Kerala Health Minister Veena George.
Credit: Facebook/veenageorgeofficial
Thiruvananthapuram: A bid by Kerala Health Minister Veena George to blame the previous Congress-led UDF government for allegedly sitting on a study on amoebic meningoencephalitis cases seems to be boomeranging.
As amoebic meningoencephalitis cases in the state keep on increasing, the health minister tried to put up a defensive by stating that it was the left-front government that initiative measures to counter the infection and alleged that the the previous Congress-led United Democratic Front government sat on a study report on the infection.
However, it has now come to light that the study report was published only in 2018 when the CPM-led Left Democratic Front government was in power and K K Shailaja was the then health minister.
A study by microbiologists Anna Cherian and Jyothi R of the Thiruvananthapuram medical college on patients in 2013 found that out of the 350 cases with clinically diagnosed infective corneal ulcers, 314 had acanthamoeba, which is a free-living amoebae that causes amoebic meningoencephalitis. It was also pointed out that well water was the most common source of infection.
Sharing a copy of the study on social media the other day, the health minister said that the UDF government in power in 2013 did not act upon the study.
However, it later came to light that the study was published only in 2018, two years after the UDF lost power and the first Pinarayi Vijayan had come to power.
Meanwhile, with a 17-year-old student in Thiruvananthapuram testing positive for amoebic meningoencephalitis on Saturday, several people who used a swimming pool from which the student was suspected to have got the infection were advised to seek medical aid in case of any sorts of illness.