In a double whammy for the State Government which has already been grappling with the huge number of daily Covid-19 fatalities, cases of dengue, a vector-borne viral disease, are on the rise in Khordha district.
State Director of Public Health, Niranjan Mishra on Friday appealed people to get themselves tested for dengue only at the four designated sentinel sites operating in Khordha district which include the Capital Hospital, RMRC, Bhubaneswar AIIMS and Khordha District Headquarters Hospital (DHH).
"Four sentinel sites for testing dengue are operating in Khordha district. People can walk-in and get them tested for dengue for free of cost. If you have fever and body ache, do not visit private institutions for dengue test as they don't use standard methods," advised the State Director of Public Health.
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The Khordha district, of which Capital City Bhubaneswar is a part, has reported as many as 113 dengue cases since January. Out of the total cases, a whopping 103 were detected only this month, informed Mishra.
However, the number of the people affected with the disease is comparatively less than the last year, claimed Mishra.
The senior health officials also informed that the concerned administration has carried out a drive to clean stagnant water in different parks of Bhubaneswar.
Following the detection of as many as twelve cases of the vector-borne disease from Sailashree Vihar and Kalpana areas recently, entomology experts and senior officials of the Health and Family Welfare Department had visited the slum pockets and various colonies the region under the North Zone limits of the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC).
BMC Commissioner SK Singh has also directed both the BMC and Health and Family Welfare Department officials to ensure visits of Health and ASHA workers, sanitary inspectors, ward officer, and community organisers for conducting awareness drives.