Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, on Wednesday, slammed leader of opposition Akhilesh Yadav for politicising the issue of vector diseases like dengue.
“You create chaos in society by politicising every issue; people saw your true face during the corona (COVID-19 pandemic) period. The government is aware of dengue; serious efforts are being made to control communicable diseases through inter-departmental coordination,” Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said while intervening in the debate on the spread of dengue in the state.
The issue was raised by Samajwadi Party MLA Lalji Verma during the zero hour through an adjournment notice.
“The leader of the opposition is not interested in solving the problem, but in creating chaos in society by politicising every issue. People had seen your malicious attempts during the novel coronavirus pandemic also when you were misleading the people on the vaccine by calling it a Modi vaccine,” he said.
“Both the (Covid) vaccines were developed by the scientists under Prime Minister Modi’s guidance in the country and have proved to be the most effective vaccines in the world. COVID-19 cases are seen increasing in all the countries of the world but it is under control in India and in Uttar Pradesh,” the chief minister said.
“The UP government has made a comprehensive and coordinated effort to control all vector-borne diseases, including dengue and is also tracing and treating all those infected with it,” Yogi said and added, “The double-engine government does not make only statements but also delivers on the ground. Dengue is completely under control in Uttar Pradesh because of timely steps taken by the government.”
The leader of the opposition had alleged that people were not getting treatment for dengue in government hospitals and were forced to seek treatment in private hospitals, where they were forced to pay exorbitant fees for treatment.
Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak, who heads the Health Department, was answering the questions of the leader of opposition and SP MLAs in the House. However, amidst the noise created by the opposition MLAs, Yogi Adityanath intervened and rebutted the charges levelled by the opposition members.
In an obvious dig at Akhilesh Yadav, the chief minister said, “You will get the answer as per the question raised by you. Right now, you have heard only half the answer, if you listen to it completely then perhaps the history will come alive in your mind.”
“You have only talked about dengue, but when we talk about vector-borne diseases, it also includes diseases like malaria, chikungunya, kala-azar. A coordinated effort has been made at the government level for the treatment of all these related diseases, be it vector-borne or water-borne diseases. It is through that coordinated effort that a special campaign for communicable disease control is run three times a year in the state,” the chief minister said.
He said the Health Department, being the nodal department, implements these programmes in coordination with all other departments through awareness for the first 15 days. After this, through Dastak door-to-door campaign, suspected patients running fever are traced and taken to the nearest health centre for treatment.
Referring to the region-wise disease profile of Uttar Pradesh, a state with a population of 25 crore, Yogi Adityanath said, “Uttar Pradesh is a state with diverse climatic zones and therefore, diseases also differ from region to region. If you look at the area ranging from eastern UP to Terai of Nepal up to Saharanpur, the entire area was affected by encephalitis. If you look at the area around Bareilly and Budaun, it was more infected with malaria. If you reach from Varanasi to Firozabad and Agra via Prayagraj, Lucknow, Kanpur, this entire area is affected by dengue. If we look at the Bundelkhand region, this entire region is affected by chikungunya. Kala-azar was seen more effectively in the areas adjacent to Bihar.”
Yogi Adityanath said that dengue was a type of flu, having its own cycle. Taking a jibe at Akhilesh Yadav, he said, “When the member was shouting, I was also worried about his health. What you have said is not ‘blood trip’, it is called platelets. It is available in sufficient quantities in every district. What used to happen earlier was that we used to transfuse whole blood. Whole blood is not required for every patient, especially those with viral diseases such as dengue or multiple viruses that reduce platelet count. We provide an additional supply of platelets in that situation. For this, blood separator units have been provided in every district.”
Referring to the efforts made regarding health infrastructure in the state, Yogi Adityanath said that the government was also providing annual health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh under Ayushman Bharat and Mukhyamantri Jan Arogya Yojana to 10 crore people in the state.
“The patients are getting all the facilities in any empanelled private or government hospital. The entire House is witness that every MLA has been authorised to give Rs 25 lakh annually from the Vidhayak Nidhi,” the chief minister said and added, “There is no discrimination on any ground like caste, creed and religion in sanction of funds for medical treatment from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. Whosoever applies for it gets the assistance if the person is a citizen of Uttar Pradesh. The government provides financial assistance for treatment within the state, in the country or anywhere in the world from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.”
Yogi Adityanath asserted that the government has made funds available to all the members of the assembly when they recommended for assistance from CM Relief Fund.
