Congress members on Friday alleged failure of the Chhattisgarh government in tackling rain-borne and vector-borne diseases and trooped out dissatisfied with the answer of the Health Minister. They accused the government of failing to provide proper health facilities to people and take preventive measures against a surge in malaria and diarrhea in the state. The issue became heated after MLA Motilal Sahu of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) raised the issue of deaths of people due to malaria and diarrhea and sought the governments response. Congress members targeted the government, claiming that the cases of the water-borne and vector-borne disease were shooting up in the state. In his reply, Health and Family Welfare Minister Shyam Bihari Jaiswal said it was incorrect to say that the health system had collapsed. The truth is that the government had been working sensitively to ensure the prevention of diarrhea and malaria, he said. A total of 1,015 Rapid Response Teams have been formed and 1,371 inaccessible villages and 1,183 epidemic prone villages were identified in the rainy season. The Minister said it was incorrect to say that in the last week, thousands of people were found to be suffering from malaria and diarrhea in the state. He also talked about the number of tests carried out and patients identified with malaria and diarrhea as well as measures taken to contain the diseases. He said the Annual Parasite Index (API) has come down from 7.29 per thousand population in 2019 to 3.98 per thousand. Former Chief Minister and Congress legislator Bhupesh Baghel asked why the government had been trying to cover up malaria and diarrhea deaths. Even the Chhattisgarh High Court has taken suo moto cognizance of the surge in the cases and served notices to concerned authorities, he said. Baghel also sought to know the number of tests conducted to curb malaria and deaths that occurred. The Minister answered that a total of 35.71 lakh tests were carried out to check malaria and 12,242 persons were found to be positive for the disease. Fifteen deaths were reported due to the disease, he said. The Congress members accused the government of failing to effectively handle the situation and later walked out of the House expressing dissatisfaction over the Ministers reply.

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