Former Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Suvendu Adhikari on Monday wrote a letter to the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya over the surge of dengue cases in the state and urged the Centre to send a ‘Team of Doctors to guide the State Govt and provide relief to the people. “I am writing you this letter as the State of West Bengal is in the midst of a Health Emergency,” the letter said.

Taking to Twitter Suvendu Adhikari said, “Dengue situation in West Bengal has spiralled out of control due to the inefficient West Bengal government. I have written a letter to Hon’ble Union Health Minister; Mansukh Mandaviya to send a Central Team of Doctors & Public Health Experts to guide the State Govt & provide relief to the people.”

Pointing to the alarming situation of dengue in the state, Suvendu Adhikari in his letter wrote, “At a time when you are choking in the national capital, the people of West Bengal are tormented by mosquitoes. Dengue has taken West Bengal in its grip for the past three months, with the cases on the rise in several parts of the state. The worst affected areas are Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, Murshidabad, Hooghly & Howrah.”

Amid the worsening of the situation, West Bengal on October 28 reported garbage littered on roads in Kolkata, which raised concern as the city was already grappling with the outbreak of dengue.

The garbage was found littered open on New Town and Salt Lake streets.
As a result, the citizens are keeping the doors and windows of their houses closed in disgust over the rotten stench of garbage and in fear of dengue-causing mosquitoes entering their houses.

According to locals, despite repeated pleas by the government and doctors to keep the neighbourhood clean to fight dengue, these places are littered with garbage.

A citizen said, “Every citizen would like that the city should be clean and there should be minimum diseases. There is not only a hospital but also a residential complex nearby. There should be an aggressive cleanliness drive and no garbage on the road.”

Notably, Suvendu Adhikari in his letter drew Union Minister Mandviya’s attention to the dengue cases, recorded the highest this year in the 43rd week since 2017.

“The dengue figures have spiralled out of control as the case count crossed 42,000, the highest cumulative figure till a calendar year’s 43rd week since 2017. If one compares the dengue figures till this time of the year, i.e. the 43rd week of a year, this year’s cases in West Bengal have been the highest since 2017. In 2017, the number of dengue cases was 19,518 till the 43rd week. The data for the corresponding years were 16,856 in 2018; 39,357 in 2019; 2,558 in 2020 and 2,875 in 2021,” the letter read.

Hitting out at the Mamta Banerjee-ruled West Bengal government for running out of funds to control the ungovernable dengue situation in the state, BJP MLA said, “This year the Dengue situation has gone out of control in West Bengal, as because the financially bankrupt State Government could not provide funds in time for the precautionary measures. Let me reiterate it; the West Bengal Health Department did not have adequate funds, which led to the rise in cases as the measures which were needed to be taken, months earlier, to control the breeding of ‘Aedes Aegypti’ mosquitoes were not carried out properly due to the lack of funds.”

(With inputs from ANI)