Nagpur: Alarmed over increasing patients of Dengue, Scrub Typhus, Swine Flu, Fileria and other infectious diseases in the Second Capital City of Nagpur, the Minister of State for Urban Development and Home Affairs Dr Ranjit Patil rushed to the city and paid a surprise visit to Nagpur Municipal Corporation to take stock of the situation on Thursday .
The Minister directed the civic body to immediately initiate remedial measures to curb the outbreak of the diseases. “Create awareness about the diseases among the citizens. Cleanliness must be maintained across the city and for this cooperation of citizens should be sought,” Dr Patil said.
Deputy Mayor Deepraj Pardikar, Standing Committee Chairman Virendra Kukreja, Ruling Party Leader Sandeep Joshi, Deputy Ruling Party Leaders Varsha Thakre, Narendra Borkar, Health Committee Chairman Manoj Chaple, Water Works Committee Chairman Pintu Jhalke, Acting Municipal Commissioner Ravindra Thakre, Additional Commissioner Ram Joshi, Health Deputy Director Dr Anil Chivhane, Health Officer (Sanitation) Dr Pradeep Dasarwar and other officials attended the meeting.
The visit of the Minister to the city could be hastened up looking to the fact that Mansi, daughter of Ruling Party Leader Sandeep Joshi, was also tested positive for dengue.
The diseases like Scrub Typhus, Swine Flu, Dengue and Malaria have together taken lives of 23 people in Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) this year till September 18. Around 2,000 people tested positive for Malaria. All the above four diseases have similar symptoms like body ache, cough, cold, fever, weakness. Their treatment too is symptomatic. The only care to be taken by people is they should approach doctor immediately to avoid further complications. The authentic test for dengue is ELISA. Most of the private hospitals don’t do that. They conduct simple blood test and start treatment of patient accordingly. In Nagpur, the ELISA test is conducted at Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), Indira Gandhi Government Medical College and Hospital (IGGMCH)and at NMC’s Datke Hospital at Mahal.
Scrub typhus registered 17 deaths out of which except two, all victims are from outside the city. The deaths of swine flu are 5.The citizens should become aware about keeping their own premises clean. Most of the homes have become the mosquito breeding centres. The old material, scrap is kept in a negligent manner all over, water is stored and kept for a week out the fear of facing water shortage. Such carelessness breeds mosquitoes leading to diseases like malaria, dengue. Cleaning of house should be made regularly, the Minister stressed and added that help of NGOs could be sought for curbing the outbreak of the diseases.
