Govt negligence led to health emergency: YSRCP

Guntur: A team of YSRCP alleged that Vijayawada has been plunged into a public health crisis as diarrhoea cases continue to spiral in New Rajarajeswari Pet, with more than 700 cases reported in just five days. The coalition government’s negligence has turned the situation into a medical emergency, leaving citizens to struggle without adequate care. Despite the scale of the outbreak, contaminated drinking water continues to be supplied, forcing families to rely on private hospitals, spend lakhs, and fall into debt.

The team was represented by YSRCP NTR district YSRCP president Devinenni Avinash, Sattenapalli in-charge Dr Gajjala Sudheer Bhargav Reddy, former MLAs Malladi Vishnu and Mondithok Jaganmohan Rao, Vijayawada Mayor Rayana Bhagyalakshmi, state leader Sheikh Asif, and YSRCP Student Wing State Working President Ravichandra.

The team found shocking lapses. Residents showed bottles of foul-smelling, muddy water supplied to their homes and pointed to overflowing, filthy drains. Tankers had not been cleaned for over a year, yet this contaminated water is still distributed. Most victims are children, and several deaths have been reported with symptoms of fever, vomiting, and diarrhoea. Yet the government downplays the numbers, claiming only 270 cases, while YSRCP identified over 700 in just two streets. In Guntur Rural too, 45 people died earlier due to contaminated water, but no corrective action has followed. The party alleged that the government has failed on every front: no ambulances, no paediatric doctors at medical camps, no proper enumeration, and no testing of drinking water before supply. During YSRCP’s tenure, water testing kits were provided at village secretariats, and 40 urban health centres with 5,000 sanitary workers functioned effectively, preventing such outbreaks, the team claimed.