Dengue grip on city

LUDHIANA: After gastroenteritis, dengue is slowly tightening its grip in the region. Till now, 50 cases have been reported.
Sources said of the 41 patients taking treatment at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), 26 were from Jalandhar, seven from Ludhiana, two each from Mansa and Kapurthala and one each from Chandigarh, Hoshiarpur, Bathinda and Himachal Pradesh.In Apollo Hospital, six patients had been confirmed while four were in Christian Medical College (CMC).
The threat of dengue is looming large. In the year 2008, the city had recorded the maximum cases across the country ' 4,000 and 15 deaths. This had made the Centre launch a probe into the matter.
The report revealed that the district health authorities failed to curb the transmission in the incipient stage due to the lack of supervision and monitoring.
Due to lack of technical skills of field and supervisory staff along with poor coordination, the district authorities came into action in mid-October. By then, transmission was at its peak with cases being reported from every part of the district.
The action taken then by the authorities was damage-control rather than prevention. The report also talked about the non-existence of any district action plan for the year.
The health department is making appeals to the public to clean their coolers and not to allow water to stagnate. But even in government institutions, larvae were found by the National Vector Borne Disease Department officials who inspected the city a few days ago.
Talking to The Times of India, GP Mangla, district epidemiologist, said the cases were reported not only from the city but also from other states and districts. He added that till now, seven cases had been reported from the city.