The dengue scare has spread its tentacles to various parts of Odisha even as the government on Friday directed all hospitals across the State to open separate dengue wards at the earliest.
DMET (Directorate of Medical Education and Training) Director, CBK Mohanty said that the Health and Family Welfare Department has directed all hospital authorities to set up special dengue wards in their respective centre keeping in mind the gravity of the situation.
Allying fears over the D-2 strain of the vector-borne disease, Mohanty said, “There is no need to panic over the D-2 strain of dengue as it was prevalent earlier.”
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According to sources, the State has so far reported 547 dengue cases of which Bhubaneswar alone accounts for the majority 482 cases.
The vector-borne disease has also wrecked havoc in Rourkela as the city reported over 20 cases till Thursday. The civic body in the Steel City has made all out efforts to arrest the spread of the disease. Special dengue wards have been set up at Rourkela Government Hospital and Ispat General Hospital.
As many as six dedicated wards have been set up especially for dengue patients at the Rourkela Government Hospital, Medical officer Santosh Swain said.
"We have received two patients so far. Both the patients are in a critical condition. We had referred them to IGH and Burla as blood platelet transfusion facility is not available here. Both the patients are doing well now," he added.
"I request people having dengue symptoms to get them tested at the government hospital. We are conducting the test through ELISA method which a sophisticated way to detect the disease," he added.
Meanwhile, the Bhubaneswar district unit of BJP today staged agitations at 12 places in the State Capital blaming the State government and Civic body for the outbreak of mosquito-borne diseases.
“The State government has completely failed to arrest the outbreak of dengue in the Capital city. What was the government doing before the onset of monsoon? Why didn’t it take steps earlier to repair the dilapidated drains in the city,” asked BJP’s Bhubaneswar district president Babu Singh who led the protest at Master Canteen Square.
The BMC is taking steps only after the BJP took to the streets and made them aware of the disease. The government has invited the dengue virus to the city which is already reeling under Covid 19, he said.