District tops state with 2,325 dengue cases

Karam Prakash

Tribune News Service

Patiala, December 15

The district has reported 2,325 cases of dengue fever this year, the highest in the state.

The Health Department claimed that they initiated programmes such as ‘Friday, Dry Day’ in March and conducted several mass awareness campaigns to control the deadly disease, but to no avail. A health official said, “Our responsibility is just to create awareness and provide healthcare facilities to the patient who has tested positive for the disease.”

Alarming rise

The district has witnessed an alarming rise in the number of dengue cases in the past four years. Twenty-four persons reported positive for the disease in 2014. Last year, the district witnessed 2,432 such cases. However, health officials claimed that it took around five years to bring the down the spread of the virus if there was an outbreak in the previous seasons. Health experts said due to the presence of vector and virus Erin, the district was facing outbreak for the past three years.

What officials say

Civil Surgeon Dr Manjit Singh said, “The Health Department was on toes throughout the season and played an active role in controlling the disease. In fact, due to our efforts, the cases were less in comparison to the last year, otherwise dengue count would have been three to four times higher. If we go by dengue incidence rate, Patiala is not at the top.” 

He said there was lack of community participation.

No action against labs

• With no check on blood testing labs, which are ill-equipped with the required testing machines, private labs in the city fleece thousands of city residents. They conduct non-confirmatory dengue tests without having proper testing protocol. 
• As per the Health Department, ELISA-based test is the best confirmatory test for dengue. Dengue test is free at all government health institutions, whereas private labs charge between Rs 600 and Rs 1,500 for conducting dengue confirmatory test.