Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Jan 10: Communist Party of India (M) State Secretary Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami today blamed the Government’s dismal performance for deaths of 10 patients due to Hepatitis-C in South Kashmir.
In a statement, Tarigami said that the Government has failed to take requisite preventive measures and thus the epidemic resulted in the death of 10 people in two months while many others are battling for their lives in various hospitals.
He censured the Health Department for sleeping over the issue and delaying the notification of the disease to the World Health Organization.
He asked the Government to formulate a comprehensive contingency plan to curb the disease.
“Expert teams should be deputed to these areas to go deep into the causative agents which have resulted into outbreak of this deadly disease,” he said.
Meanwhile, President DAK Dr Nisar-ul-Hassan in a statement said that untreated Hepatitis C patients are constant source of transmission of infection to the community.
“The outbreak of Hepatitis-C in South Kashmir last year and surfacing of cluster of cases in Srinagar is a concern and a colossal human tragedy indeed. The Government is responsible for the deaths due to this disease and secondary transmission of the virus in the community,” the statement quoted him as saying.
He said politicians by making false promises of free treatment to the patients during public rallies are playing with human lives.
“Government has violated constitutional obligation by not providing treatment to Hepatitis C patients. Right to Health as integral part of Right to Live is a fundamental and constitutional right of every person under Article 21,” he said.
Dr. Hassan warned that the magnitude of Hepatitis-C patients is alarming and warrants mass screening of the population.
“This is an eye opener for policy makers to devise a strategy to combat the menace and its spread on war footing,” he said.
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel