Amidst the Covid receding pandemic, what is unfolding now is another
emerging monster is one of the most virulent dengue outbreaks in the
recent past in many states including Jammu Kashmir.
Going by the huge burden already being faced by the health
infrastructure available in Jammu Kashmir and especially the
countryside, what seems to be fearsome is the ill-prepared and
ill-equipped hospitals and health centres to handle the rising number
of patients needing medical treatment and attention.
The surge of dengue, also called break-bone fever, in the past month
has overwhelmed most hospitals and doctors in the Union Territory.
Government hospitals have been found wanting as severely affected
patients with depleted platelet counts, across all ages, struggle to
find proper beds and kits essential for tests and treatment. There are
stories going round of two patients having had to share a bed and
hospital corridors crammed with patients with glucose drips depict the
pathetic picture.
Though it is a matter of satisfaction that the J&K UT Administration
after the alarm raised in the media has taken the alert seriously and
efforts and resources are put to take the challenge head on.
However, such circumstances once more red-flag the inadequacies that
assail the health system. Prominently painful are the lack of
specialists and machines lying defunct or damaged in the public
sector, especially in the rural and small-town facilities. While the
Covid pandemic roused the authorities to the ills in the system and
both the Central and state governments pledged to enhance health
budgets to ensure top-class amenities for all, filling the gaping
holes is still a work in progress. It is the common man and the poor
who generally bear the brunt of this lackadaisical attitude. Betraying
it is the absence of specialist doctors or technicians in many
hospitals, even though dengue has of late become a regular phenomenon
during the monsoon. That the necessary medical machines are gathering
dust in some places is a criminal waste of scarce resources.
Significantly higher number of cases in some states, including Jammu
Kashmir, were reported in October as compared to the number of cases
during the same period previous year. A total of 15 States/UTs are
reporting their maximum cases in the current year; these states
contribute 86% of the country’s total dengue cases till 31st October.
In view of this, Central teams comprising experts from NVBDCP, NCDC
and Regional Offices have been sent to 9 States/UTs that are reporting
more cases in October compared to September.
Officials said that the teams are tasked to assist and support states
to mount an effective public health response. “The teams have been
asked to report on status of vector control, availability of kits and
medicines, early detection, availability and use of insecticides,
status of anti-larval and anti-adult vector control measures etc,”
Adding to the woes of the victims of the mosquito (Aedes aegypti)
bite-induced disease is the fleecing indulged in by many a private
facility and lab. In the wake of the rising case load, reports of
charging high call for strict and deterrent action. At the same time,
people must take the preventive step of keeping their surroundings
clean and dry to prevent mosquito-breeding.
