Captain Government owes an explanation on deaths in state due to swine flu: Manuke

Chandigarh, January 16: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has expressed its deep shock and dismay over the growing insensitivity of the deaf and dumb government in the state, allowing precious lives to fall prey to the deadly swine flu, which has exposed chinks in the combative preparedness of the sleepy dispensation.

Slamming the government for its blatant callousness to take a call on the fatal HINI virus taking a heavy toll on innocent lives of the people in the state, AAP MLA and deputy LoP in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Sarabjit Kaur Manuke said here on Wednesday that the government in the saddle was responsible for the avoidable loss of lives due to swine flu.

Expressing grave concern over the rising cases reported from different parts of the state,  Manuke said the government had failed miserably to take an urgent call on the timely ‘alerts’ sounded by the health officials on the spread H1N1 virus in the state taking a toll on human lives. Blaming the government for the massive medical botch up, she said that many lives could have been saved had the government shown a semblance of sensitivity and concern towards the malaise.  

Citing reliable newspaper reports, she said that all was not well when it came to checking the menace devouring lives of people in the state, Kaur said Patiala had recorded 11 positive cases, followed by Ludhiana and Ropar districts with seven cases each, while Mohali reported five cases this year. The deadly virus had claimed eight lives in just two weeks in the state recently, which calls for an explanation from the Captain-led government.

She said it was more shocking than surprising that in the home district of state Health Minister – Patiala topping the list of swine flu cases reporting maximum number of cases which were tested positive, followed by Ludhiana and Ropar districts, which  reflected government’s non-serious stance towards the problem of plenty. She said that given the status reports, swine flu had taken toll on eight lives during the months of January and February this year.

Giving an advisory to the state dispensation, she said the chief minister and health minister should take a cue from the unique Delhi health model cut out by the Kejriwal-led government there to address peoples’ health concerns and initiate preventive measures to ensure that there was no loss of life owing to government’s gross negligence. The government must come out of its supine pastures and address the issue surrounding the lives of people, she demanded.