THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Opposition slammed Health Minister Veena George during the question hour in the assembly on Wednesday for not giving a clear answer on Attingal municipality’s action on a woman who was selling fish on the wayside. Opposition leader VD Satheesan said the minister should answer on it based on Rule 300.
Veena said the government is committed to saving human lives during the pandemic. The issue became a heated debate after Kovalam MLA M Vincent raised a question whether the state government had given powers to Attingal municipality staff to adopt high-handedness on fisherfolk as part of Covid restrictions. Veena replied that the government would protect human lives.
Soon, Vincent told the assembly that it was an unsatisfactory answer.. On the rise in TPR rate, the minister said Kerala is the most likely state in India to be affected by Covid and this is the reason for the rise in TPR. She said the density of population in the state is one of the reasons for the rise in number of cases. She also informed the assembly that the post-Covid treatment system will be strengthened. “To this end, post-Covid clinics have been started in all health institutions.
There are 1,185 post-Covid clinics operating in the state. So far, about 2.5 lakh people have sought treatment in these places. Ayurveda and homoeopathy will also be included in the post-Covid treatment plan. Multi-system Inflammatory Syndrome found in children will be studied in detail,” Veena said. According to the health department, as of June 30, 2021, 13,325 deaths have been confirmed to have been caused by Covid, Veena told the assembly.
“The classification of Covid and non-Covid deaths are based on the cause of death recorded by the doctor concerned. The Death Information Portal is functional to provide details of those who have been officially reported dead due to Covid. As digital systems are not available to the marginalised and BPL sections, a campaign called WAVE has been launched to provide vaccination. Registration for this will start at the ward level. It was to be completed by July 31, but registration is still going on. Spot registration is mainly given to those who do not get the second dose and those who do not get the slot online,” Veena said.