Chikungunya crisis: Common man suffering as Centre-Delhi Govt. playing blame game, says Congress

The Congress Party on Saturday accused the Centre and the Delhi government of indulging in a blame game over who was shirking responsibility for dealing with the Chikungunya and Dengue crisis, and causing immense distress to the citizens of the national capital.

"This is very sad and unfortunate. On one side, diseases like Chikungunya and Dengue is becoming epidemic, a number of people are infected by it, and on the other hand, the central government and the Delhi government are sitting with their eyes shut and denying facts so that they cannot be held responsible for it," Mahila Congress President Shobha Oza told ANI.

Oza further asserted that the government should wake up and take serious action to prevent the spread of the disease and provide better medical facilities to the people.

"The World Health Organisation (WHO) also stated that Chikungunya may lead to death. So now, the government should wake up and announce the the spreading of Chikungunya and Dengue is a national health emergency. The treatment should be done nicely and should be made cheaper. The government should assure the best medical treatment to the people," she said.

On Thursday, Delhi's Health Minister Satyendra Jain appealed to the Centre to convene a meeting of health ministers of the National Capital Region (NCR) to discuss ways to coordinate and solve all Chikungunya and Dengue-related cases.

In a letter written to Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare J.P. Nadda, Jain said the Government of Delhi has been making its best efforts to coordinate with the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry and its affiliate hospitals and other institutions to tackle the problem of the outbreak of Chikungunya and Dengue by making requisite arrangements in Delhi Government-run hospitals and related institutions.

However, he said, that there were a large number of patients coming to these hospitals from the NCR apparently due to lack of proper healthcare facilities in these states - namely Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

Jain reiterated that Chikungunya cannot cause deaths, and added that this is a fact that is available on Google, and not his opinion.

Speaking to media here, Jain said that Delhiites need not panic and that all they needed to do is to take precautions and go to the hospital only if they experience symptoms of the vector-borne disease.

Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda said that no complaints of shortage of medicine or doctors and testing facilities have been reported, adding that the Centre is fully prepared to tackle the crisis.

Nadda said the Centre has held a review meeting in this regard and found out that there is an increase in cases of Chikungunya in Delhi, whereas the hike in cases of Dengue have been reported from West Bengal, Odisha and Karnataka.

Meanwhile, some people in West Bengal have tested positive for malaria also.