Nipah virus (NiV) has already taken the lives of six even though the unofficial accounts say 10. Still government focuses its attention only on affected districts of Kozhikode and Malappuram; no actions are seen for preventive steps to stop the virus from spreading to other districts of the state
Kerala is under the threat of a new terror. This time it is Nipah virus (NiV). It has already taken the lives of 6 even though the unofficial accounts say 10! But, Kerala’s health department would confirm only 3. Lini (28), a nurse of government taluk hospital, Perambra, Kozhikode district, is one among them. Reports suggest that she caught fever as she was in the team in-charge of the treatment of three patients who succumbed to the virus infection.
The health department rose to the reality only when the number of deaths rose. Even when two brothers (Sabith and Swalih) died of identical symptoms the authorities failed to rise to the occasion and find out the real cause of the issue. And, the sister of the deceased boys’ father was also under the treatment for the same reason. Unfortunately those three members of a single family died. People believe that it is the negligence of duties from the part of the government and the health department which contributed towards the spread of the disease and further deaths. Now, the central medical team has arrived in Kozhikode and held discussions with the authorities of the medical college, thanks to the intervention of the union minister of state Alphons Kannanthanam.
Still government focuses its attention only on affected districts of Kozhikode and Malappuram; no actions are seen for preventive steps to stop the virus from spreading to other districts of the state. Simultaneously there are reports of dengue fever spreading throughout the state in the wake of the summer rains in the state.
Obviously people of the state are panic. They still remember with fear about the dengue fever and chikungunya which ruled the roost in the state few years back and crippled the health of thousands of people for months and years together.
Unfortunately, the writers, cultural bigwigs and media people who shout on top of their voice against the “inhuman approach of the BJP rule” when a minor incident takes place in BJP-ruled states keep selective silence. They do not use similar terminologies against the CPM-led LDF rule. Trolls in the social media says, “if diseases spread in UP, Yogi is responsible; if Nipah spreads in Kerala bats are responsible”. Sarcasm is due to the medical opinion attributing the spreading of the Nipah virus to bats.
