Spurt in dengue cases as count reaches 23

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, October 5

The graph of the dengue patients in the Bhai Mani Singh Government Hospital is on the rise in the district.

As per the Civil Hospital record, 23 dengue patients have turned up for treatment so far. Most of them have come from other cities. As many as eight persons have been tested positive for dengue in one week, triggering alarm for the Health Department.

Dengue cases started pouring in here in September when 18 patients were confirmed after lab tests at the Civil Hospital.

Recently, Dinesh Thakur (40) of Nirankari Bhawan road, Sarmukh Singh (59) of Mandi Kalan, Paramjit Kaur (40) of Barnala, Sonia (32) of Partap Nagar, Sarika (41) of Nai Basti, Shimla Rani (60) of Green Avenue, Mangal Singh (22) of Muktsar and Vikas (18) of Rampura have been found dengue positive.

Though health authorities have made it mandatory for all private hospitals to report such cases, sources say the latter as well as private practitioners do not bother to do so.

Moreover, due to the “inappropriate” functioning of the community health centres and sub-divisional hospitals, patients at times go unreported.

Dengue is caused by Aedes mosquito bite that causes weakness and leads to a drastic drop in the blood count.