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Patients battle for life, MLAs settle scores in House
T?PURAM: Up to Wednesday,
75 people succumbed to chikungunya, which already has ten districts of the state in its deadly grips. Sadly, both the LDF and the UDF failed the people in the Assembly on Wednesday even as
35,000 victims were battling for their lives in various hospitals across the state.
During the discussion on the demands for grant for the Health and Family Welfare Department, the 17 speakers who took part in the discussion utilised the opportunity to settle political scores. At the end of the day it was just another blame game.
The daylong discussion turned fruitless with the government failing to come out with a concrete plan to tackle the crisis. Even the Health Minister who replied to the discussion had nothing constructive to offer to the people.
On Tuesday, this website?s newspaper had closely monitored the regions hit by the dreaded disease. A day after, it paid a close watch in the Assembly on the people?s representatives? concern about the epidemic.
The following is what the this website?s newspaper witnessed in the Assembly:
11.35 am: The discussion was started by K Sivadasan Nair (Congress) who virtually attacked the Health Minister by even seeking her resignation for failing to take effective measures to curb the spreading of disease.
He devoted the 15-minute speech to put the entire blame on the Health Minister for chikungunya and its death toll.
11.50 am: Nothing much can be expected from P Jayarajan of the CPM. He has only one agenda - to attack the Opposition. For that he had come ?well-prepared? to list out the failures of the four Health Ministers in the previous UDF government.
From the corruption on appointments, kidney racket and setting up of professional colleges in the self-financing sector, he did not lose any point.
But after 20 minutes of his speech he himself might have confused on whether he was debating on a no-confidence motion.
12.15 pm: Ibrahim Kunju of the IUML had a valid point to suggest. He wanted the Health Director Kuttamani to be prosecuted. Because he never gives valid replies whenever an MLA wants to know something from him.
He also issued a warning. After chikungunya, Kochi is all set to face elephantgunya. He even admitted that the MLAs were not affected by the disease since they were ?well? settled than the ordinary people.
12.30 pm: Pallippuram Balan of the CPI had only few words to say. He wanted the government to immediately fill the vacancies of doctors. But he too did not forget to put the entire blame on the previous government for the present plight in the health sector.
12.40 pm: Chikungunya is fast spreading since people are least bothered about keeping their surroundings clean, said Thomas Chazhikkadan of the Kerala Congress (M).
He wanted the government to utilise the services of the microbiology departments of the Medical Colleges in detecting the viral diseases.
He called for the active involvement of the local-self government organisations in undertaking the cleaning programme of the respective areas. He even sought the increase of grant to the local bodies in this regard. At least a sensible talk.
12.55 pm: Mons Joseph was least interested in chikungunya. He wanted a cancer institute in central Travancore. The reason, already two cancer institutes were functioning in the south and the north.
1.01 pm: A A Azeez of the RSP had come to confer a ?doctorate? to former health minister Thiruvanchur Radhakrishnan - because he had come with a new name for chikungunya which Azeez struggled to recollect. He wasted the ten minutes allotted to him by delivering a street speech.
1.10 pm: It was a solace. Gentleman politician Ramachandran Kadannappally had no political score to settle. Hence he listed out certain measures, which had to be implemented at the earliest to equip the health department to meet any challenge. He also stressed the need for a health policy.
1.16 pm: K.P.Mohanan wanted to increase the salary of doctors to Rs 20,000, compulsory rural service for doctors and model hospitals in all districts.
1.25 pm: The firebrand former bureaucrat Alphons Kannanthanam had some strong message to give. He wanted more action to make things happen in the government department.
Scrap private practice of doctors, put them into eight hours of duty, take criminal cases against those companies who supply substandard medicines. But during his speech many intervened and even some had some suspicions.
Kannanthanam had a simple answer: ?I have made it possible in the entrance examination and the Land Use Board.? His ten-minute speech had full attention of the Assembly unlike others.
1.35 pm: K K Rajagopal of the CPM, who got 16 minutes to speak, did not even utilise the entire time as his prepared speech was too short. Like Jayarajan, he too had come prepared for a debate on a no-confidence motion.
1.50 pm: George Mercier wanted an appropriate inquiry into the lapses from the health department for acting late in Cherthala. He warned the Health Minister that Cherthala was close to Vayalar which is a sacred place for the comrades.
2.00 pm: V Chenthamarakshan took 24 minutes to talk nothing. The only sensible thing which can be recollected from his speech was that he wanted to demolish the Pollution Control Board as it had done no good to the state.
2.24 pm: P Thilothaman got emotional at times since he represented Cherthala. But he was categorical while saying that the situation was not grave in Cherthala. He put the blame on the media. ?They are celebrating with chikungunya,? he said. Unlike others, he had only one thing to talk - what he had done to Cherthala after the outbreak of chikungunya.
2.39 pm: Thomas Chandy is good at heart. He does not want to sensitise the issue though several people were affected by chikungunya in Kuttanad. But he had a different reason for this. It will affect the tourism sector as he himself owned a resort in Alappuzha district. He was furious at the LDF?s stand on the private sector. ?Even the Chief Minister had gone for a treatment in London at a private hospital,? he said.
2.45 pm: Saju Paul was brave and dynamic. From Marad to Muthanga, custodial death to lottery scam, he touched the entire topics under the sun. He even wanted the former UDF ministers to send to Abu-Garib prison for that he wanted the government to allocate fund in the budget.
3.04 pm: K.C.Venugopal was the last speaker of the day. He was the star of the day with unleashing a scathing attack on the Health Minister. Even P.K. Sreemathi had no answers to the issues raised by him on the Cherthala episode.
It was the speech, which had received wide attention since he was the person who had been masterminding the UDF attack on the government after chikungunya hit the state.
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