Deadly dengue continues to sting Ambala district

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Ambala, November 22

Over 300 suspected dengue cases, at least 225 of them having tested positive, and two deaths due to the disease have been reported from Ambala. The dreaded dengue fever continues to spread its tentacles in the district.

Even after two dengue deaths last month and over 300 suspected cases of dengue (225 confirmed) having been reported from different parts of the district, the situation on the ground has not improved yet.

The sanitary conditions and health facilities still continue to remain inadequate in most parts of this district while fogging and other precautionary measures to contain the dengue mosquito from breeding and biting remain on paper only.

The district health authorities have claimed that it has put on notice almost 4,000 persons for the presence of dengue larvae at their places during a door-to-door checking drive conducted in various parts of Ambala.

Almost 100 dengue cases have been reported from a single village, Hussaini, from where two deaths were reported last month.

The number of dengue cases could be much more as several patients reported at private clinics and hospitals, while some even went out of the district for treatment and their count was not included in the official figures.

Deputy Commissioner Ashok Kumar Sharma had earlier directed the district health and civic authorities to pull out all the stops to check the spread of dengue in the district.

Despite the Deputy Commissioner asking district health officials to set up a special fever ward at civil hospitals in the district and ensure its 24x7 operation, most fever patients continue to report at private clinics and hospitals outside the district.

Meanwhile, stagnant water, overflowing drains and bins and heaps of garbage continue to be breeding grounds for mosquitoes and flies. With the twin towns of Ambala City and Amabala Cantonment and the surrounding urban and rural areas continuing to raise stink, the threat of an epidemic looms large in the district.

Except the district hospital, most hospitals and dispensaries lack arrangements to treat fever patients and conduct the requisite clinical tests to diagnose dengue fever. 

“We are forced to shell out hefty consultation fee and buy costly medicines, besides undergoing clinical tests at exorbitant rates as the facilities at government centres are not satisfactory,” said Naina, who is getting treatment from a private hospital for the past one week. A visit to various private health clinics in rural and urban areas found a large number of fever patients preferring private treatment and complaining of inadequate arrangements at government centres.

Claiming that the situation was “totally under control”, the district administration said it had “managed” to improve the health and sanitary conditions in the district. “The number of fever patients has started receding and there is no need to panic,” a senior health official said.