Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala has accused the Health Department of failing to take precautionary measures to prevent the fever outbreak in the State.
Addressing a news conference here on Monday, he said the government had failed to carry out pre-monsoon sanitation drive, and had adopted a laid-back attitude though the Opposition parties had demanded to launch the initiative in January. The situation was alarming with thousands thronging taluk and community health centres. The State was facing a grave situation with hospitals having defunct equipment at laboratories, no beds, and with the absence of health inspectors and medical officers,” he said.
“The Health Minister had said that only 117 persons had died due to fever, and that the figure was much less than that of Tamil Nadu. However, this data was only from the 37 government hospitals. Lakhs of people are seeking treatment at about 5,000 hospitals in the State. There was no coordination among the various medical departments,” he said.
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He said the government should provide ex gratia payment to the families of persons who died due to fever. Further, all households at Koorachundu grama panchayat should be provided with ration.
He also accused the government of adopting a carefree attitude in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) issue. A special session of the Assembly should have been called instead of promulgating an ordinance. As many as 26 States had adopted the Bill, but Kerala failed to take GST seriously, Mr. Chennithala said.