No Provision To Pay Compensation For Dengue Death, Says Odisha Minister

Bhubaneswar: Even as the cases of dengue have been spreading steadily in Odisha, Health and Family Welfare Minister Niranjan Pujari has said there is no government provision to pay compensation to the families of the victims of the disease.

The minister stated this in a written reply to a question of MLA Mohammed Moquim in the Assembly on Monday. The MLA wanted to know whether the government has taken any steps to pay compensation to the victims of dengue.

In his reply, Pujari said, “Under the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), no provision has been made to pay compensation to the families of the patients who die of dengue.”

Moquim, in his question, said the scourge of the vector-borne disease has assumed acute proportion in twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. Stating that dengue has claimed lives of people in some cases, he wanted to know the number of patients in the state at present.

In reply to this, the minister said total 77,001 dengue cases have been detected in the state between January 1 and September 14, 2023.