Chhattisgarh reports 47 malaria deaths

RAIPUR - Forty-seven people died of malaria in Chhattisgarh between April 2010 and January 2011, the state assembly was told Monday. However, opposition Congress members said the number was much higher.

Health Minister Amar Agrawal gave the figure in a reply to former chief minister and senior Congress leader Ajit Jogi.

Amid opposition members’ accusations that the government was hiding the actual number of deaths, that were said to be in hundreds, the minister admitted that number of malaria-affected patients had gone up in all 18 districts despite his government striving hard to provide medical help to patients even of highly remote areas.

Jogi alleged that state was in grip of malaria and death toll figure provided by the minister is a cover-up of actual number of deaths as his assembly constituency, Marwahi, alone had reported 108 deaths in recent months.