Viral fever affects 10 lakh in Kerala

The Kerala government has finally confirmed that close to 10 lakh people in the state had sought treatment for various kinds of fever over the past months, weeks after rising figures of viral fever cases in the state kicked off alarm.

Minister for Health V S Sivakumar said 140 people had died due to viral fever variants between January and June this year. According to the health department, the number includes around 80 dengue and one H1N1 deaths.

Inept handling of fever cases was in focus at the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday with the Opposition slamming the Congress-led United Democratic Front  government for sidelining the crisis while debating over a Cabinet reshuffle and in-party squabbles.

Shortage of doctors, poor co-ordination among various government departments and failure in addressing garbage disposal issues also came under the Left Democratic Front fire. The Opposition also demanded the health minister’s resignation.