Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan Slams UDF Govt's "Complete Failure" in Coordinating Disease Containment Efforts

Thiruvananthapuram: Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan said the government has completely failed in coordinating ground-level action amid the spread of infectious diseases in the state. He said medicines are not reaching patients, doctors who received PSC advice are not being appointed, and five districts have no District Medical Officers, asking the government to clarify what vested interest lay behind these failures. He was speaking while seeking permission for an adjournment motion in the Assembly.

Pinarayi Vijayan said there had been delays in the response following the reporting of the Nipah case in Kozhikode. Nipah, he noted, is a disease with deadly potential, and it falls on the Health Minister to set aside everything else and lead the coordination effort — yet the minister reached Kozhikode only after several days had passed. He said that on every previous occasion when Nipah struck, the then Health Minister had reached the affected area almost immediately to coordinate all response efforts, mobilising the entire state in the fight against the disease. The LDF government's containment efforts, he said, had never been confined to the government alone but had brought everyone together.

He also responded to Health Minister K Muraleedharan's allegation that the LDF government, which was in power at the time, had done nothing to prepare for the monsoon season. He said the model code of conduct was in force at the time due to elections, which meant the government did not have the authority to convene officials. Even so, he said, meetings were held, including in February, and the government had carried out its responsibilities properly. However, he noted, no such meetings have been held since the new government took office.

He pointed out that even the minister himself has admitted there is no coordination between the Health Department and the local self-government department. The LDF's experience, he said, was that local self-government institutions had cooperated effectively in such situations in the past, with politics never becoming an obstacle. Now, he said, the minister says one thing while officials say another, and officials are being transferred indiscriminately — even at a time when the Health Department needs to be functioning at its most effective. He said an unprecedented war for positions is playing out even at the top levels of the Health Department, something Keralam has never witnessed before, and called on the government to take officials into confidence and avoid mass transfers that demoralise health workers.

The Opposition staged a walkout from the Assembly in protest after permission for the adjournment motion was denied.