After days of bickering, the two power centres, lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, got down to business over the viral onslaught of chikungunya and dengue in the capit
After days of bickering, the two power centres, lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, got down to business over the viral onslaught of chikungunya and dengue in the capital.
While the L-G visited several public hospitals across the city to check preparedness, Mr Kejriwal said the government will work closely with the civic agencies to get Delhi out of the crisis.
Over 2,800 people have been affected by the outbreak of dengue and chikungunya in the capital.
Stressing the need to deal with the mosquito menace on a war-footing cutting across political affiliations, Mr Kejriwal said people should come together like they do during Indo-Pakistan cricket matches. He returned to the capital on Saturday after undergoing a throat surgery in Bengaluru.
“Soon after returning, I held a meeting with my health and PWD minister and told him that if Delhi can tackle this like the way it successfully held odd-even. I have ordered him to procure as many fogging machines as needed and to wage a war against mosquitoes for the next few months. We will try to undertake fogging and sprinkle medicines every two days in every locality,” he said in a video message.
The chief minister also said political bickering over the issue was trivial considering mosquitoes don’t bite a “Congress person and spare a BJP supporter”. “Mosquitoes don’t know who belongs to which party. Leaving politics behind, all should come together to fight the menace. We kept on saying the MCD did not perform its duties. But since it has not, let’s do it together. Let the Delhi government, MCDs and the Centre work together,” he added.
Mr Jung stressed on “special attention” to the elderly. Accompanied by Delhi secretary Chandrakar Bharti and other top officials, he visited fever clinics, laboratories at Lok Nayak Jaiprakash Hospital, Bara Hindu Rao Hospital and G.T.B. Hospital. His team interacted with patients, doctors, medical superintendents, staff and other visitors to assess the situation.
The L-G’s visit comes a day after the Kejriwal government accused him of adopting a “casual approach” in dealing with the chikungunya and dengue outbreak in the city.
“He instructed the medical superintendents and doctors to ensure that patients with complications, particularly those who are elderly, should be attended to with greater care,” a statement issued by the Raj Niwas said. Mr Jung also directed the Delhi health secretary to help provide additional doctors, if required, seeing the surge of patients on Sunday.
The AAP government and the L-G had a standoff after health minister Satyendar Jain and water minister Kapil Mishra landed up at his office on Saturday to discuss the health crisis.
