Dehra Dun : Till a couple of years back it was unheard of in the state, today the capital city of Uttarakhand seems to be in a vice like grip of the dengue epidemic. Though the state health authorities put the number of patients in the city at 809, unofficial sources claimed that the number could be far higher.
In fact, the vice president of the Congress (Uttarakhand has a Congress government), Suryakant Dhasmana recently told newspersons that the number of patients could well be near the 3000 mark. He based his observations on the fact that not all patients were going to the government hospitals and a large number of them were visiting private hospitals and clinics.
What has added to the misery of the Aam Aadmi is the fact that besides dengue, viral fever is also in epidemic proportions and patients are not sure what they are suffering from. This has forced almost all and sundry suffering from fever to rush to the pathologist of a confirmatory blood test to rule out whether they are suffering from dengue.
As the number of platelets in the body, reduce drastically with dengue, there is an acute shortage of blood and platelets in the Blood Banks. Various voluntary organizations have been holding blood donation camps in various parts of the city so that there may be easy availability of platelets for the dengue patients in the city.
Meanwhile the Congress and the BJP, the two major political parties in the state have started a blame game. While the Congress is blaming the Nagar Nigam (it has a BJP mayor) for the deteriorating condition in the state capital and the continued rise in the number of dengue patients, the BJP leaders are holding the Congress government in the state responsible.
While fogging is being done in some parts of the city, and information campaign has also been started advising the people not to panic and also listing the dos and don’ts for them to do, should they be diagnosed with dengue.
But apparently the epidemic seems to be spreading further. Latest reports from the health authorities confirmed that 59 persons had been tested positive with dengue in the holy city of Haridwar and another 30 in Nainital.
A journalist with over 40 years of experience, Jagdish Bhatt was Editor, Hill Post (Uttarakhand).
Jagdish had worked with India’s leading English dailies, which include Times of India, Indian Express, Pioneer and several other reputed publications. A highly acclaimed journalist, he was a recipient of many awards
Jagdish Bhatt, aged 72, breathed his last on 28th August 2021 at his Dehradun residence.
