Claiming that dengue is completely under control in UP because of timely steps taken by the government, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the double-engine government of BJP in the state does not just make statements, but acts on them.

In a counterattack to Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s remark against the government on the issue of dengue on Wednesday, on the second day of the winter session of the state Assembly, the chief minister said the government had made a comprehensive and coordinated effort to control all vector-borne diseases including dengue, but also tracing and treating all those infected with it.

The leader of the Opposition had alleged that people were not getting treatment for dengue in government hospitals and were forced to seek treatment in private hospitals. Deputy CM and Health Minister Brajesh Pathak was answering the questions of the Leader of Opposition and SP MLAs in the house. However, amidst the noise of opposition MLAs, CM Yogi stood up and answered all the charges.

Earlier during the question hour of the House, there was an argument between Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak and Leader of Opposition Akhilesh Yadav too on the issue of electricity.

CM Yogi said: “Right now you have heard only half the answer, if you listen to it completely then perhaps the history will come alive in your mind. The government was already aware of dengue and made serious efforts to control communicable diseases through inter-departmental coordination. You have only talked about dengue, but when we talk about vector borne diseases, it also includes diseases like malaria, chikungunya, kala azar.

He further said, “A coordinated effort has been made at the government level for the treatment of all these related diseases, be it vector-borne or water-borne diseases. It is through that coordinated effort that a special campaign for communicable disease control is run three times a year in the state. The Health department, being the nodal department, controls these programmes in coordination with all other departments through awareness for the first 15 days. After this, through Dastak door-to-door campaign, suspected patients running fever are traced and taken to the nearest health centre for treatment.”

Referring to the region-wise diseases in UP, a state with a population of 25 crores, CM Yogi remarked:  “Uttar Pradesh is a state with diverse climatic zones and therefore, diseases also differ from region to region. If you look at the area ranging from Eastern UP to Terai of Nepal till Sahanpur, the entire area was affected by encephalitis. If you look at the area around Bareilly and Badaun, it was more infected with malaria. If you reach from Varanasi to Firozabad and Agra via Prayagraj, Lucknow, Kanpur, this entire area is affected by dengue. If we look at the Bundelkhand region, this entire region is affected by Chikungunya. Kala-azar was seen more effectively in the areas adjacent to Bihar.”

CM Yogi said that dengue is a type of flu, and has its own cycle. Taking a jibe at Akhilesh Yadav, he added: “When the member was shouting, I was also worried about his health. What you have said is not a blood trip, it is called platelets. It is available in sufficient quantity in every district. What used to happen earlier was that we used to transfuse whole blood. Whole blood is not required for every patient, especially those with viral diseases such as dengue or multiple viruses that reduce platelet count. We provide an additional supply of platelets in that situation. For this, blood separator units have been provided in every district.”

Referring to the efforts made regarding health infrastructure in the state, CM Yogi said that the government is also providing annual health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh under Ayushman Bharat and Mukhyamantri Jan Arogya Yojana to 10 crore people in the state.

“The patients are getting all the facilities in any empanelled private or government hospital. The entire House is witness that every honorable member has been given the right to give Rs 25 lakh annually by the House from its own funds. Not only this, we do not give money from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund on seeing the face. Whoever applies, his caste, creed and religion are not considered. If he is a citizen of the affected state, we can arrange money for his treatment within the state, in the country or anywhere in the world from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund”, he remarked further.

CM Yogi asserted that the government has made funds available to even the opposition members when they have come up with proposals without any discrimination.

Continuing his attack on Akhilesh Yadav and SP, Yogi said that the problem was that they were not interested in solving the problem, but in creating chaos in society by politicising every issue. “People had seen your malicious attempts during the novel coronavirus pandemic also when you were misleading them on the vaccine by calling it a Modi vaccine”, he said.

CM Yogi, however, added that both the vaccines developed by the scientists under PM Modi’s guidance in the country have proved to be the most effective vaccines in the world. CM said that while Covid cases are seen increasing in all the countries of the world, it is under control in India and Uttar Pradesh.

In the end, taking a dig at the former Medical Education Minister, Yogi said that it has been a long time since he stepped down from the post of Minister, which he might have forgotten.