THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CPM's P A Mohammed Riyas and Health Minister K Muraleedharan entered into a verbal duel in the Assembly on Monday over the spread of contagious diseases in the State.
Beypore MLA moved a notice seeking permission to take up the matter of the spread of contagious and infectious diseases in the State as an adjournment motion. He launched a scathing attack on the lack of unity among various government departments in carrying out the pre-Monsoon sanitation works.
He also poked at Muraleedharan, while in Opposition, earlier, had claimed that the 'land ruled by a wretched man is doomed to fail' in an apparent remark hurled at then CM Pinarayi Vijayan during the Nipah outbreak.
Significantly, he said that the LDF was not going to reciprocate in kind against CM V D Satheesan, whose month-long rule has seen outbreaks of Nipah and other contagious diseases.
Riyas also spotlighted the alleged rifts within the government and the trust deficit between the Minister and the bureaucrats.
He said the government was indulging in enacting transfers of officers without recognising the seriousness of the matter.
He also took a jab at the UDF, stating that the Kozhikode district neither has a Minister nor a District Medical Officer.
Muraleedharan retorted that the health department did not face any challenge other than the reel-making trend and the five years of 'Veenameettal', apparently referring to the PR works undertaken by the government during the tenure of former Health Minister Veena George.
He said that the government has been containing the spread of infectious diseases well. He also countered the 'transfer blame', stating that certain officers who acted without understanding that the government had changed were transferred.
He also blamed the LDF government for not taking preventive measures against infectious diseases towards the fag end of its rule and said the UDF government has been doing a good job in that front.
"In 2018, there were 16 deaths due to Nipah. This time, only one person was infected and is on a ventilator. His condition is serious, yet he is showing a few improvements," the Minister said.
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan, in his walkout speech, said the Health Minister under the LDF government moved to Kozhikode at the onset of the Nipah outbreak and coordinated activities from there.
"After how many days did the UDF Health Minister arrive there? Why did he not try to coordinate activities?" Pinarayi asked.
