Patients in Barbil allege apathy as no of dengue affected touches 900

Barbil/Cuttack: Panic has gripped Barbil after the number of dengue patients in the area, the worst affected in the state, touched around 900.

Some patients have levelled charges of medical negligence against local hospitals alleging blood samples are not being collected regularly to ascertain the reason for fever.

Mamata Maharana, a patient, said, “Nurses in the hospital are only giving saline and injection. Nobody listens when we call them for help in case of an emergency.”

Endorsing Maharana's view, Laxman Mahanta, a Barbil resident, said, “Dengue patients go back home once they feel a little better but not fully cured. This way other people get infected with mosquito bites.”

Refuting the charges, Dr Kabindra Prasad Sahu, CDMO, Keonjhar, stated, “The allegations are baseless. We ask patients to test blood on the very first day and have not returned anyone without taking samples.”

In faraway Cuttack, 196 patients are undergoing treatment at the dengue ward of the SCB Medical College and hospital. Of them 17 have been admitted to the ICU of the hospital.

Dr Bhubanananda Maharana, Emergency officer, SCB hospital, said, “359 blood samples were taken yesterday of which 106 have tested positive for dengue. 83 of the samples were from Cuttack alone.”

Meanwhile, the youth wing of Odisha Congress today staged a demonstration in front of the residence of Health Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak and burnt effigies of Nayak and the Chief minister alleging failure of the State government in tackling the dengue menace. They also pelted tomatoes at the residence of the health minister.