Suvendu Adhikari urges Centre to send doctors to deal with dengue-hit Bengal

Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari wrote to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya stating that the State is “busy hiding the data on deaths and actual dengue cases”

Senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Monday wrote to Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, urging him to send a team of doctors and public health experts to guide the state authorities to monitor the “worsening dengue situation” in West Bengal.

In a four-page letter to Mandaviya, the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly claimed that the State government is “busy hiding the data on deaths and actual dengue cases” in the State.

"The dengue situation in West Bengal has gone out of control due to the inefficiency of the West Bengal government. Instead of trying to control the situation, the state administration is busy hiding the data. I have written to the union health minister, requesting him to send a central team of doctors and public health experts to guide the state government and provide relief to the people," he said.

Mr. Adhikari claimed that the state is reeling under a financial crunch and the TMC government has stopped "cleaning of drainage facilities and upgradation of the sanitisation facilities" due to a shortage of funds, leading to health problems.

"Once the situation is brought under control, then the data provided by West Bengal health department needs to be thoroughly scrutinised, and their lack of efficiency which resulted in the loss of lives, should be probed," he wrote in the letter.

In the last week, over 5,000 people tested positive for dengue in West Bengal, with most of the cases reported from North 24 Parganas district, a health official said.

The Trinamool Congress criticised Adhikari for writing to the Union health ministry and claimed that the State government has taken all necessary steps to control the dengue situation.