BJP alleges patients harassed due to lack of infrastructure

BJP today alleged that patients coming to North Bengal Medical College and Hospital for treatment of encephalitis were harassed in the absence of infrastructure at the institution.
"There is no infrastructure for treatment of any disease in the hospital," West Bengal BJP president Rahul Sinha said.
He alleged that there was bungling in the seizure of pigs, an exercise which has been undertaken by the authorities to control the spread of the killer disease that has claimed 112 lives since January this year.
The pigs, he claimed, were being caught and its flesh was being sold in the market for consumption. This in turn would cause the disease to spread instead of controlling it.

Sinha demanded that families of those who had died due to the disease should be given compensation of Rs 10 lakh each and those affected Rs two lakh. Besides, the government should take the responsibility of their treatment.
The Centre, he said, was ready to help the state to tackle the situation but Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was refusing it. "Only a joint effort by the Centre and the State can solve the situation."

Senior Congress leader Manas Bhuniya who visited the institute along with other party leaders echoed Sinha and criticised the state government for its neglect which was behind the situation.

The Centre and the State government should work together to tackle the disease. "The State should take the Centre's help," Bhuniya said.
Besides, the state government should be set up monitoring cells which would alert the state and the Centre on health issues, he added.