Telangana: Health Minister denies BJP's allegations of 250 deaths due to dengue

Hyderabad: Claiming that there were about 250 deaths due to dengue in the state, the Telangana BJP on Wednesday said it had become the 'dengue capital' of India, a charge denied by the State Health Minister Etela Rajender. Responding to the BJP chief spokesperson K Krishna Saagar Rao's claims in this regard, Rajender said though dengue cases had been registered there were no reports of deaths due to the vector-borne disease.

In an official release on Tuesday, the Health and Family Welfare Minister said there were 700 confirmed dengue patients in August and all were cured. Saagar Rao alleged that Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and his government had destroyed the public health infrastructure in Telangana. "Bhartiya Janata Party considers Telangana state has become the dengue capital of India....," he said in a statement.

"Today we have about 250 deaths in the entire state, especially Hyderabad has over 150 deaths. And the Minister (Rajender) says there is no single death in the state. Though there is no officially reported the death from the government, the unofficially reported deaths are over 250," he claimed. He further said BJP would protest "to ensure that this government will wake up from the deep slumber." Following reports of dengue and other seasonal fevers spreading in Telangana, Rajender had on Monday held a review meeting with senior officials on the steps to be taken to tackle the menace.

Among other measures, the minister instructed the department officials to ensure that seasonal fever or diseases testing kits were available at the hospitals from Primary Health Centres (PHC) to tertiary hospitals. It was announced that out-patients wing of government hospitals in the city will function during evenings also.