Thiruvananthapuram, 13 June

Kerala Health Minister K Muraleedharan on Saturday rejected the allegation of a lack of essential medicines related to Nipah at the Kozhikode medical college hospital, saying that only the anti-viral drug remains to reach there.

Muraleedharan told reporters here that the anti-viral drug in stock at Chennai had expired and therefore, it will have to be brought from Delhi and will reach the hospital by evening.

"All the remaining medicines are in stock. Nipah has not spread, and all other tests carried out till now have been negative. The one infected patient is still on a ventilator," he said.

He was responding to Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Pinarayi Vijayan's allegation a day ago that there was a shortage of essential medicines at a time when a Nipah patient was undergoing treatment on a ventilator support in critical condition.

"Hospital authorities were unable to specify exactly when the medicines would reach the facility, raising concerns over the timely availability of life-saving drugs. Inability to ensure the availability of such essential medicines in a time-bound manner was a matter of serious concern," Vijayan had said.

The Health Minister said that Vijayan's remark was being seen only as a "political criticism".

Muraleedharan also said that he had gone to the Kozhikode medical college after the Nipah case was reported and returned to the state capital after giving the necessary directions.

"Since it could spread to other parts of the state, I came to Thiruvananthapuram and called a meeting of top officials to deal with it," he further said.

He also said that the results of the three persons who were in the highest risk category and under observation at the hospital were also negative for Nipah.

"All suspected cases are being examined," he added.

A 43-year-old man was recently confirmed to have contracted Nipah virus infection and is undergoing treatment at the Kozhikode Government Medical College Hospital.

Nipah is a zoonotic virus that can spread from animals to humans and, in some cases, between humans. Fruit bats, also known as flying foxes, are the natural reservoir of the virus. The infection can cause severe respiratory illness and encephalitis, and has a high fatality rate.