Residents of Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Pune suffered the most due to dengue and the fever spread in epidemic form and it’s after effects are all felt throughout the year. Unlike Malaria it is the day mosquito that causes this illness. It is reliably learnt that almost every hospital in these cities are having victims of this dreaded disease and the patients are diagnosed with high fever, body pain followed by weakness. Many are being turned away for lack of space and the medical facility required to cure the patients. One may not be surprised to see some entrepreneur or a group of doctors have already begun planning hospitals exclusively dedicated to treat vector borne diseases. After all, given the way it is happening now, they can be assured of patients the year round for treatment between malaria, chikumgunya and dengue. Some have already begun milking the crisis for what is worth.
And since not many patients know how they are to be tested for it, they are made to undergo examinations meant for bubonic plague, telangictasis and glandular botts for good measure as well, not to mention adenoids, mumps and vesicular emphysema of the lungs. The end result is a fat bill on the seeing of which patients show signs of other distress which may require further tests. Our corporations are doing their best to prevent the dreaded dengue deaths and make sure that proper medicines are administered to get the full cure. Ask anyone from the civic body and after first denying its existence, they then say that a few isolated cases have been reported but this is nothing compared to the situation in the Amazon forests or the mortality when the Panama Canal was dug. In Chennai Coovam river is causing great concern for people. In Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Pune the open gutters are the major reason for mosquito breeding and its after effects on people living in these busy places. The time is ripe to eradicate the dengue and other related fevers once for all. But despite the Swaach Bharat campaign being undertaken widely across the country, the existence of mosquitoes could not be controlled and that caused the dreaded dengue deaths in the recent past.
Jayanthy Subramaniam
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
