MLAs give Khader a tongue-lashing over rising dengue cases in State

MLAs cutting across party lines on Thursday gave Health Minister U T Khader a dressing-down for not doing enough to check the rising dengue cases and shortage of medical doctors in the State. 

The legislators vented their ire on the minister for not doing enough to prevent the spread of dengue. While poor patients are queuing up in front of government hospitals for treatment, private hospitals are fleecing people in cities and towns, including Bengaluru. A patient has to spend a minimum Rs 14,000 to get treatment in private hospitals, the BJP’s S Suresh Kumar (Rajajinagar) said.

K R Ramesh Kumar of the Congress (Srinivaspur) said there was such a big rush of dengue patients in rural areas that government hospitals were unable to accommodate them due to shortage of beds. “Treatment for dengue fever is very expensive. The poor patients are badly hit. The Health and Family Welfare Department has not taken any measure to control it. The department blames urban local bodies for dengue cases in urban areas. The first thing the department should understand is that mosquitoes do not have any jurisdiction,” he said.

The minister intervened and said that so far there had been only one confirmed case of dengue death in the State. There are three more suspected dengue deaths. Of the total 12,201 suspected cases, 1,586 are confirmed dengue cases. He also claimed that steps were being taken to prevent breeding of mosquitoes that cause dengue. The members took exception to the minister and slammed him for defending the department.

Ramesh Kumar said the officials were misleading the minister and that the statistics given by the minister were wrong. “Dengue is wreaking havoc in the State, but the minister argues that the number of cases is less compared to last year. Nobody is bothered about your numbers. The officials (Health Department) will not have been so callous had they seen their near and dear ones die,” he said.

K Gopalaiah of the JD (S) (Mahalakshmi Layout) said the BBMP was doing nothing to control dengue. “The BBMP officials are using water to fumigate neighbourhoods in the absence of prescribed chemicals. I have purchased the chemical spending money from my pocket in my constituency. I am ready to take you (Khader) to the worst-affected places in my constituency,” he said.

BJP Dr C N Ashwath Narayan (Malleswaram) said breeding of mosquitoes cannot be controlled unless spraying was done at regular intervals. Neither the BBMP nor the Health Department is scientifically dealing with the issue. The system of reporting dengue cases is also faulty, he said.

Earlier, the MLA pulled up Khader over shortage of medical doctors in government hospitals. The members, many of whom are Congress MLAs, demanded that the services of contract doctors be continued and the process to transfer them abandoned. “It appears that he (Khader) is helpless. He may not be able to take independent decisions. He (Khader) may say yes (to the members’ demands), but the person sitting here has to sanction,” he stated pointing at Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s chair.