Dengue toll goes up to 6 in Odisha

Cuttack/Barbil/Bhubaneswar: The death toll in dengue has gone up to six in Odisha with the death of a patient in Barbil in Keonjhar district last night.

Lili Gop, a daily wage labourer, died at the Barbil Community Health Centre (CHC) last night, sources said.

Family members have alleged that she died due to improper treatment. Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) Kabindra Sahu said he would look into the allegation.

Talking about the situation in the district, he said out of 3075 blood sample tests conducted in the district, 830 samples have tested positive.

While there is a steady rise in the number of patients in Cuttack city, especially the Jagatpur Industrial Estate area, the deadly virus has spread to other districts. Reports received from the districts said 32 patients have been identified in Bhadrak district, 26 in Ganjam and four in Rourkela in Sundargarh district.

Keeping the rising number of dengue patients in mind, authorities of the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack today made arrangements for 40 extra beds in the dengue ward taking the total number of beds available to 215.

Giving details to the media, Emergency Officer of SCB Medical College Dr Bhubanananda Maharana said the hospital authorities had earlier increased the bed strength to 175 in the dengue ward. But as the number of patients went up to 171 today, the authorities decided to add 40 more beds.

He said of the 171 patients admitted in the dengue ward, the highest number patients are from Cuttack district with 103. Of the 171 patients, of which nine patients have been admitted in the ICU, 132 are male and 39 female.

He said out of 486 patients admitted in the hospital till date, 312 have been cured and discharged while three patients have died. Out of 137 blood sample tests conducted till yesterday, 45 have been tested positive.

Talking about preventive measures, Maharana said each individual should have the awareness on this vector-borne disease.

“One should remember that the Aedes mosquito lays eggs on dirty, stagnant water. My advice to the people that they should always cover their drinking water container and clean stagnant water within seven days as it takes 10 days for the Aedes larvae to become adult. One should always use full sleeve clothes, use mosquito net and mosquito coil. Besides, efforts should be made to remove stagnant water from the locality,” he pointed out.

Briefing media persons after presiding over a review meeting in Cuttack, Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC), Central Division, AB Ota said considering that the Jagatpur Industrial Estate area is the epicentre of dengue, the district administration has made special arrangements to arrest its further spread.

“I have directed the district administration to complete cleaning work of the industrial area by July 25,” he said.

Taking note of the alarming spread of dengue, chief minister Naveen Patnaik conducted a review meeting at the State Secretariat in Bhubaneswar this afternoon.

Informing the media after the meeting, Health and Family Welfare minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak said special arrangements have been made in the three government-run hospitals in Cuttack, Berhampur and Burla for the treatment of dengue patients.

Talking about the overall situation in the state, he said while 678 patients have been identified and three have died, 504 patients have been cured and discharged from the hospitals.

About preventive measures, the minister said the Housing and Urban Development, Health and Family Welfare and the Industries departments are working in tandem to bring down the incidence of the disease.