Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Singh Yadav wondered in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Wednesday if the state’s chief minister had a medical degree.
The state’s Assembly is currently in its third session of the year and the main agenda has been the introduction of a supplementary budget worth Rs 28,760 crores.
The opposition wanted a discussion on the spread of dengue in the state.
In 2023, so far, the state has reported 5,742 dengue cases, with five deaths. These figures taken from the National Centre for Vector Borne Diseases Control reveal that the number is much lower than 2022 when 19,821 cases and 33 deaths were reported.
The opposition’s intent turned inadvertently funny when former minister Ravidas Mehrotra referred to the unavailability of ‘blood drip’ in the districts.
When it was his turn to speak, CM Yogi Adityanath said that what Mehrotra meant was ‘platelets’- which are given to dengue patients. These small, colourless cell fragments of blood form clots and stop/prevent bleeding. In severe cases of dengue, platelet counts fall below the acceptable level.
Adityanath then launched into an elaborate explanation. “Earlier whole blood was infused in patients but now all districts have blood separator units which can take out platelets from blood. Perhaps it has been too long that the opposition member has been a minister and hence his knowledge is not up to date,” said the CM.
Mehrotra was a cabinet minister in the previous Akhilesh Yadav led government and held the family welfare portfolio.
Adityanath also cautioned Mehrotra against shouting too much in the House. “I am scared for your health” he told the 68-year-old Mehrotra.
The CM continued his speech, labelling dengue as a ‘kind of flu’ which had a life cycle of its own; and that cases of all vector borne diseases were bound to come down as the monsoons were over.
Before the Speaker of the House could move on to other business, SP chief Yadav said, “When the Leader of the House (the CM) was talking about vector-borne diseases, I was wondering if he has gained a MBBS degree”, eliciting laughter from the opposition benches.
