Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain made a bizarre claim that there is no “outbreak of the mosquito born disease, Chikungunya in the state, at a press conference held on Wednesday. He further stated that the disease doesn’t cause “deaths” and accused the media of “creating panic” among the public.
He said, “Medically, there is no death due to chikungunya, but media is showing deaths due to this disease. I want to make it clear that chikungunya is not fatal. There are 200 deaths in Delhi every day, but nobody asks about it, reports PTI
Jain on Wednesday returned to Delhi from Goa, where he was campaigning for AAP. The Health Minister also carried out inspections of few Delhi government hospitals on Wednesday and appealed to people to not panic. He sent out a series of tweets to do damage control.
Doctors say that chikungunya is not a life-threatening disease in general, but in rare cases leads to complications that prove fatal, especially in children and old persons. Sources said the probe would seek to find the exact cause of death. Jain had also accused the Lt Governor of “paralysing” the health system in Delhi, reports PTI.
While social media was quick to react. His statements sparked different reactions from people.
Twitter was divided on this issue.
Many took a dig at the minister and Aam Admi Party
AAP supporters in turn questioned the Modi government and the LG of Delhi for not taking the required steps.
Some AAP supporters went to the extent of factually proving the minister’s claims
Pic 1 : Media busy Blaming Delhi Govt,
Pic 2 : Highest #Chikungunya cases in BJP Ruled Pune this year. pic.twitter.com/QV2Vwivq63— AAP Ka Mehta (@DaaruBaazMehta) September 13, 2016
While the blame game continued, there was one neutral tweet that actually made sense
(With inputs from PTI)
(Feature image source: Twitter/@anuragdhanda )