Looking back 2023: Jalandhar District not in the pink of health
Aparna Banerji
Jalandhar, December 20
Starting amidst characteristic fog and pretty high AQI, year 2023 was marked by several highs and lows in the arena of health.
While citizens said goodbye to the Covid pandemic somewhere last year, this year ironically saw a rise in allergies and illnesses triggered by environment and civic carelessness.
While rising AQI brought in a slew of illnesses in the winter months in the beginning of this year, summer months saw the emergence of flus and allergies linked to the floods that hit the rural and city areas of the district.
Strike by ambulance workers
The off-and-on strike by ambulance workers in the district also kept the health authorities on their toes as they repeatedly halted work in support of their demands, which included reduction in duty hours, payment of pending increments and equal pay for equal work.
Highs
- As many as 17 new Aam Aadmi Clinics were dedicated to people
- The district saw a dip in dengue cases this year
Lows
- Increase in COPD, allergy and flu cases
- Hypertension, nausea, fever and allergy patients in flood-hit areas
While dengue cases in Jalandhar remained significantly lesser in comparison to previous years, dip in mercury, farm fires and increase in the number of vehicles on city roads led to a dramatic increase in COPD, allergy and flu cases, triggered by worsening air quality.
In the months of July and August, cases of hypertension, nausea, fever and allergy saw an upward trend in the flood-hit areas. Medical teams attended to thousands of flood-hit people on merely two boats. The increase in cases can be gauged from the fact that during a camp in mid-July (July 16) until 12 noon, 3,910 patients sought help for various ailments. Of these, 948 were suffering from skin allergies, 694 from fever, 364 from gastroenteritis and 204 from hypertension. As many as 180 patients were under the age of five and nine were women.
The district also saw an increase in eye flu case in these months. Around 700 to 1,000 cases of conjunctivitis (and eye allergies) were collectively reported at the Civil Hospital and ESI Hospital in the beginning of August.
The district saw a dip in dengue cases this year. So far, 172 dengue cases have been reported from Jalandhar till December 6.
The off-and-on strike by ambulance workers in the district also kept the health authorities on their toes as they repeatedly halted work in support of their demands, which included reduction in duty hours, payment of pending increments and equal pay for equal work. Shortage of staff nurses, doctors and surgeons continued to ail the Civil Hospital this year.
As many as 17 new Aam Aadmi Clinics (AACs) were dedicated to people of the district this year. With 38 Aam Aadmi Clinics already in the district, the total number went up to 55 with inauguration of 17 more clinics.
