Several activists from CPI (Marxist-Leninist) New Democracy, PDSU, Progressive Organization for Women and several other Left-leaning organizations held a two-day protest at the Khammam district headquarters which concluded on Tuesday, demanding that the government declare a ‘Health emergency’ in the district and address the dengue crisis on war-footing basis. The activists allege that while the dengue crisis is prevailing across the state, it is at its worst in Khammam.
They fear that the district would see a repeat of the 2016 incident, where at least 17 persons had succumbed to dengue and several of them were tested positive for dengue.
Speaking to TNM, CPI (Marxist-Leninist) New Democracy leader Royala Chandrasekhar said, “While the entire state is suffering with viral fever and dengue, the situation is worst in Khammam. So all the progressive organizations came together and demanded that the state should declare a health emergency in the district and set up health camps and provide free medicines.”
According to Chandrasekhar, in their survey, they have found that Khammam has identified more than 1000 patients suffering with dengue. “Our team visited the 26 PHCs in the district, and found that there were at least 1000 patients with dengue, the number could be even higher if we take the private hospitals into count,” he claimed.
He alleged that the government has been downplaying the crisis by not disclosing the actual figures of dengue patients.
These organizations inspected the Primary Health Clinics (PHC) in the entire district, and claimed that the hospitals are unable to accommodate the heavy influx of patients. “There are no beds available in the area hospital, there is a scare of dengue, and private clinics are exploiting the scare and fleecing money from the patients,” he said.
Chandrasekhar blamed the inefficiency and poor planning of the district authorities for the present crisis. “The government authorities did not focus on sanitation or ways to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes. Demanding prompt action from the government, we submitted our representation to the Health Minister Eatala Rajender,” he said.
However, contrary to the allegations raised by these organizations, District Medical Health Officer Kalavathi told TNM that the number of dengue patients identified after the ELISA test (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) was 106, not 1000 as claimed by the activists. The officials say they have been given clear instructions to declare a patient as dengue-positive only after the ELISA test.
“From January, 2019 till today, the count of dengue-positive patients is 106, and there has been no deaths due to dengue,” the DMHO said.
Speaking about the efforts to stop mosquito breeding, she said that the entire district machinery including health, panchayat raj and roads and buildings departments are coordinating to clean the premises and fumigate. “We are organizing health camps in villages, fogging the villages, conducting dewatering programmes actively.”
Meanwhile, one dengue death was officially confirmed by the authorities on Tuesday. A 35-year-old man from Qutbullapur, Medchal district, who died in a private hospital, was ascertained by the District Medical Health Officer as having died due to dengue after conducting the ELISA test.
According to a report on The Hindu, over 20 patients have died of dengue in the state, which has been disclosed by the government.
In the state, so far more than 4,500 cases of dengue have been reported since January, according to a Live Mint report.