Thiruvananthapuram: The opposition UDF staged a walkout from the Assembly on Monday alleging failure by the government in containing the spread of epidemics like dengue and H1N1.
While health Minister K K Shailaja claimed that all precautionary measures were initiated and hence the impact could be reduced, opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said that even basic steps were not being taken by the government in time.
Replying to the calling attention motion by V S Sivakumar MLA, the health minister said that as a result of the precautionary measures taken by the government, the death toll could be limited to 24 whereas the death toll in neighbouring states like Tamil Nadu was very high.
There were reports that there would be outbreak of diseases because of climate changes and hence all precautionary measures were taken and sufficient medicines were made available at all government hospitals, she said.
She also said that preventive measures were taken in the affected areas with the support of local bodies. Thiruvananthapuram was the worst affected. Payippra in Ernakulam, Mattanur in Kannur, Melarakodu in Palakkad, Ramanattukara and Kakkoru in Kozhikode and Ollur in Thrissur were the other places where fever cases in large numbers were reported.
Mr. Sivakumar alleged that though the previous government used to convene high level meetings to take preventive action against the outbreak of diseases in January itself, this year the high-level meeting took place only in March. This delay had led to the spread of diseases. Kerala Congress (M) leader K M Manu and BJP leader O Rajagopal also made walkout calls over the issue.
