Bhubaneswar, July 11: The administration here has started taking preventive measures to combat dengue after the disease acquired alarming proportions in Cuttack and Keonjhar.
The fear of dengue increased after the recent rain lashed the capital city and left several low-lying areas inundated. The most-affected areas are GGP Colony, Lakshmi Sagar and the Old Town where the civic body officials are yet to conduct the cleaning operation.
While the health department has opened special dengue wards, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation is busy tracing and cleaning stagnant water pools and also distributing leaflets to make people aware of the preventive measures.
Capital Hospital here has already opened special dengue wards to treat the affected people, while the private hospitals are also making similar efforts. The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has also made special arrangements.
Capital Hospital superintendent Binod Mishra told The Telegraph that they had opened special dengue wards - one near the paediatric ward and the other near orthopaedic ward with a bed capacity of 20. Four patients from Khurda and Nayagarh are at present undergoing treatment.
"Patients can approach the casualty ward and if they test positive for dengue, they will be shifted to the special wards. We have so far tested nearly 20 blood samples and found only one positive. The situation is normal. There is no need to panic," said Mishra.
According to the data available with the National Vector-borne Disease Control Programme cell, different health institutions across the city have tested 74 blood samples and found 12 positive cases with no deaths reported so far. The situation was quite alarming last year. The data revealed that nearly 113 blood samples had been tested last year till July of which 14 persons were tested positive.
AIIMS officials said that its peripheral institute was taking special measures for dengue patients. "The hospital has more than 250 beds with all kinds of emergency equipment in place. We are ready to admit dengue patients at any time," said a senior AIIMS administrator.
The corporation has also come up with an action plan to ensure prevention of the disease in the city. "We have formed a squad with members of private cleaning agency, voluntary groups and our officials. They are visiting the wards every day to trace stagnant water pools," said health officer Chandrika Prashad Das.
Das said that the team was covering six to seven wards every day. "We want to cover all the wards in our jurisdiction in the next 10 days. We have directed the members to trace the sites of stagnant water and inform the cleaning staff so that they can spray chemicals to stop breeding of mosquitoes," he said.
Though the corporation is hopeful of combating the sting menace, residents don't seem quite convinced about its claim. Bomkihal resident Babula Mohanty said that civic body officials were making tall claims, but were doing nothing in reality. "The officials have been constructing a drain here in our locality since March. There is no sign of this getting over anytime soon. The recent rain had caused water logging in the area. The water has remained stagnant here for the past one week, creating a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes," said Mohanty.
Old Town resident Jayanti Mahakud, too, seconded Mohanty. "Stagnant rain water in potholes is perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. The civic body officials should do something about it," said Mahakud, a homemaker.
According to Prabhat Thakur, another resident from GGP Colony, there was no proper drainage system in his area, which left the roads as well as the adjacent vacant plots inundated. "The civic body officials are not conducting the cleaning services regularly here," said Thakur.
