Murali Manohar Sharma
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New Delhi: Dengue had reached an epidemic scale in Odisha. Each day there are reports of from different parts of the State about the occurrence of the disease in other districts. TheState administration has failed to check and control the spread of the disease. The SCB Medical College at Cuttack has confirmed theoccurrence of Dengue in the districts of Keonjhar, Bhadrak, Cuttack, Sundargarh, Kendrapada, Jajpur, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Nawarangpur, Nuapada and Nayagarh. More than 1900 people have already been affected, with 7 reported deaths. There have been 55 positive cases detected in Ganjam, the constituency of the State’s Chief Minister.
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One third of all the samples sent to the SCB Medical College are tested positive for Dengue. On Wednesday, 55 new cases were detected. There is a phenomenal increase of 50-60 patients each day. Three women have already died.
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The utter failure of the Government’sHealth department in the management of the epidemic is evident. How much morethe spread will happen, due to the callous and inept handling of the situation will be seen in the days to come. We had earlier submitted a detailed report of the grave situation to the Hon’ble Health Minister Shri J.P.Nadda and had asked for the intervention of the Centre in the matter. A team had been sent, but the situation is worsening day by day.
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The first cases of Dengue were detected in Barbil in the mineral rich area of Keonjhar. There has been a steep rise in the cases in the area. To cover up their inept handling and lack of infrastructure, the government hospitals are refusing admission on to patients and asking them to take medications while remaining at the homes. On the other hand, the inpatients in the district hospitals, instead of being kept for screening and observation, are being asked to go home. In Barbil, where more than 930 cases have been detected, only 200 patients have been hospitalised. To cover up the shortfalls, orders have been issued from the higher ups for a massive cover up. Instead of taking immediate measures to provide relief and succor, the government is in a damage control mode.
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Hospitalised patients are being tested for Dengue only after five days of continuous fever. The Barbil Municipality has arranged 50 temporary beds in the hospital and has also given a proposal for converting the local Kalyan Mandap into a Dengue Ward. In spite of repeated demands from the local populace, no steps are being taken.
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The Government has utterly failed in managing the epidemic. While there is no letup in the Dengue cases in Barbil, the government is still to open a control room in Barbil. From 26th June, when the first case was detected, the figure now stands at 930. Many of the daily wagers, due to sheer lack of awareness, do not even come to the hospital for treatment and suffer.
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There has been many such causality in the area, which when positive cases are detected, some patients are being informed by Cell phones, in cases where the patients do not have contact numbers; they are not informed at all. The delay in informing to test status of the reports results in the patients becoming severe and critical.
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There is an acute shortage of Paracetamol Syrup for the child patients who come to the hospitals. The patients are not even given the basic ORS fluids. The lackadaisical attitude of the government is pushing the poor patients to despair and death. Blood screening facilities in the most affected areas have not been set up till date. The two facilities for blood screening too function intermittently, they are short staffed and the equipment breaks down often. Often wrong reports are generated. While the platelets count of patients tested at Barbil was 11,000, the same patient was tested with a platelet of count of more than 1 lac when the blood was tested at Cuttack. Hence there should be a state of the art testing CBC facility in Barbil. Four persons have died in Barbil itself, with many more unreported cases in the outlying areas.
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The Government should take immediate pro-active action in this regard and take immediate steps for tackle the menacing situation. A Complete Blood Count Machine should be immediately installed at Barbil.
