Thiruvananthapuram: A report said that BJP State President, K Surendran, lambasted the health department for its lack of alertness, which has caused the reappearance of Nipah virus in the state. Surendran said that it is shocking that the health department did not take any precautions even when it knew of possibility of Nipah virus in the vicinity of Janakikaddu, which is a habitat of bats.
The report said that Surendran accused the failure of preventive measures by the health department for the reemergence of the disease. Monitoring must have been made strong every year, but it did not happen.
He said that the health department was not ready even to collect the samples from the area of those who were sick. The main reason for this is the lack of health workers.
K Surendran said that the Virology Institute at Thonnakkal in Thiruvananthapuram is not fully ready. This is the government’s failure. The Virology Institute was announced in 2018, when the state witnessed the primary onslaught of Nipah virus and the deaths of seventeen people.
The report said that K Surendran accused the state government for not setting up Virology labs, which are needed to test for Nipah virus. However, even now Kerala has to depend on other states for testing and this is causing delays.
The BJP leader also made it clear that the ICMR guidelines do not say test results from Pune Lab is a must to confirm Nipah virus. It is not known why Health Minister, Veena George, is saying test result from Pune Lab is necessary to confirm the presence of the deadly virus.
Surendran also accused PWD Minister, Muhammed Riyas, of playing politics when the epidemic is spreading. Muhammed Riyas accused that the Central Government did not inform the state government about the confirmation of Nipah virus.
K Surendra said that Muhammed Riyas’ accusation is childish and said that even the Health Minister of Kerala do not have such a complaint.
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