Two States: Kerala and UP CMs Spar Over Healthcare Statistics

Pinarayi Vijayan had a lot to say after Yogi Adityanath said Kerala should take lessons from UP hospitals.

Yogi Adityanath and Pinarayi Vijayan.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

“Kerala must learn how to run hospitals from Uttar Pradesh,” Yogi Adityanath said on Wednesday, 4 October. The UP CM made the comments during his visit to Kerala to rally support for BJP’s ‘Jan Raksha Yatra’ to protest the killings of RSS workers in the state.

Yogi’s statement comes as a response to the state’s ruling CPI(M)‘s tweet on 3 October, which read:

The CPI(M) tweet was a clear dig at the number of deaths reported in UP government run hospitals under the Yogi administration – 1,317 children have died in during 2017 at the state’s Baba Raghav Das Medical College in Gorakhpur so far, PTI reported. The state-run medical facility made headlines when 63 children died in a span of 72 hours in August this year.

Responding to the tweet, Yogi told a Mirror Now journalist at Kannur, that Kerala should learn about healthcare services from UP. He said that while over 300 people had died of dengue in Kerala, hardly any such cases were reported from UP. The state did not report any deaths due to chikungunya, unlike Kerala, he said.

The BJP government in UP has “understood democracy”, whereas the Kerala government has been bogged down with violence, Yogi said.

Kerala CM Hits Back

Hitting out at Yogi’s statement, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan took to Twitter to post a series of facts debunking Yogi’s claims.

Senior CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury took a jibe at the Yogi-administration’s healthcare system, saying:

Yogi Adityanath is in Kerala. Our advice to him is that he should first take care of Uttar Pradesh. But since he is there he should also visit the government hospitals to learn how health services should be provided and should also see how quality education is imparted in government schools.

Kerala’s Finance Minister Thomas Issac too hit out Yogi’s statement, inviting him to visit hospitals and schools as a guest to get a clearer picture.

(with inputs from PTI)