ARGENTINA-MOSQUITO DISEASE.
Chaco’s Health Minister Sandra Mendoza yesterday admitted the dengue fever outbreak is a full-blown epidemic in the province, during her interpellation by the provincial legislature.
The session lasted over ten hours and was interrupted when opposition legislators left the premises, alleging the minister was not reporting on her handling of the dengue situation. Mendoza’s supporters and journalists scuffled outside the legislature, and a photographer reported he was slapped on the face.
The dengue fever situation "has become an epidemic in Chaco," Mendoza said. The provincial administration reported 10,000 people are infected with dengue fever in Chaco, the province with the highest number of cases in the country. NGOs have reported the number of infected people is much higher.
Dengue "has no social class, religion nor political party," the minister said.
Mendoza has been harshly criticized for not preventing the dengue outbreak, and the government of her husband, Governor Jorge Capitanich, was accused of hiding the real figures of infected people and dead patients. Last week, the deputies decided to summon Mendoza to question her on the dengue situation affecting the province. Reports earlier this week said she was going to resign to avoid the grilling, but Capitanich brushed aside those rumours.
Mendoza, who before taking office last November was a provincial legislator, defended her administration.
"If the health system hadn’t been prepared it wouldn’t have endured the blows we had with the epidemic outbreak," Mendoza said. Nobody can predict epidemics, since they depend on several factors that not only concern Public Health, Mendoza said.
The questioning started yesterday at 9.30am and continued late into the evening. During the session, banners criticizing Capitanich’s administration were displayed at the chamber. "Dengue is here -Capitanich administration," read one of them. Another one said "Lies kill."
Opposition deputies complained because they said Mendoza "wandered" and "refused to talk about dengue." The session was interrupted when the opposition lawmakers left the House alleging she was not explaining the measures she took to face the dengue outbreak. They had urged the minister to talk solely about the dengue outbreak, but Mendoza addressed other aspects of her administrations and measures she had taken regarding pregnancy control and children’s health care, among others. "The minister is disrespecting people," Deputy Alicia Mastandrea said. Ruling party deputies defended Mendoza saying she was "trying to put the dengue situation in context."
