Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) has slammed the Government of Nagaland for being “grossly under prepared” to tackle Dengue outbreak in the Mon district.
“It was no rocket science to identify the added vulnerability of the district in the event of such an outbreak, and the need to anticipate the worst and take steps to adequately equip the Medical Department before hand,” NPCC Communications Department Chairperson Yanger Longkumer stated in a press release on 26th October 2023.
While acknowledging that other districts in Nagaland were also grappling with the outbreak of the disease, the Congress party lamented that the “very limited healthcare infrastructure available in Mon district” teamed with the poor strategy of the government have jeopardized “the timely dispensation of critical medical interventions which could well end up being the difference between life and death for untold patients afflicted with the disease.”
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NPCC mourned and condemned the “avoidable suffering and loss of lives” from Dengue and at the same time lauded the humanitarian initiative taken up by Konyak Baptist Bumeinok Bangjum (Konyak Baptist Churches Council) that has “now made it possible for the people of Mon to avail a set of much needed medical services free of cost.”
The party implored the State Government to step up the efforts to ensure that the Health Department is armed with the necessary tools to effectively combat the outbreak and prevent the loss of precious lives at least from now on.
It may be mentioned that on 21st August 2023, Nagaland’s Minister of Health and Family Welfare, P Paiwang Konyak rushed to District Hospital Mon to assess the situation amid sharp increase in Dengue cases. He also conducted a meeting with the District Administration, Army, churches and civil society organisations and appealed for support to fight the outbreak.
On 17th September, the Konyak Union informed that there were 678 Dengue infected patients in the district of which 289 were admitted in DH Mon while 200 were in other facilities in the district. KU also announced that the disease outbreak has caused more deaths than COVID-19.
