BHUBANESWAR: The state BJP today lambasted the state government for its failure to contain the outbreak of Japanese Encephalitis in Malkangiri district.
Claiming that the death toll in the vector borne disease is more than 150 BJP general secretary Bhrugu Baxipatra said the state government is suppressing the death figure to cover up its inefficiency.
While nine children have died in last three days, the disease has spread to 99 villages of six out of seven blocks of the district. From this, it is clearly evident that the state government is trying its best to hide the facts, he said.
Baxipatra came down heavily on the state government for its failure to provide mosquito net to the people of the district which is a malaria endemic zone.
Even as the state government had announced to provide 30 lakh long lasting insecticidal nets, it has so far provided only 11,000 nets, he said.
Reacting to the statement of Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak that the Centre has not provided 40 lakh out of the promised one core mosquito nets for the state, Baxipatra asked the minister to give a list of the 60 lakh beneficiaries who have been supplied with the nets in the
affected areas of the state including Malkangiri district.
Though the Odisha State Medical Corporation Ltd (OSMCL) has the money to purchase 30 lakh mosquito nets, it has not purchased a single mosquito net in the last two years. This has been admitted by the minister in the Assembly.