The severity of dengue outbreak in Panchkula may soon be declared a health emergency at the Sector 6 Civil Hospital. With beds remaining completely empty and cases rising steadily, additional beds have been placed in the corridors of the emergency ward. Despite strict criteria for patient admission, which state that a patient with a platelet count less than 20,000 will be admitted, many beds hold more than one patient, sometimes three on a bed in a hospital’s emergency department.
The hospital has vacated the entire covid ward in Block C and converted it into a dengue ward. Beds have also been reserved in other wards of the hospital. The influx of dengue patients has worried all the hospitals in the area, be it private or government, with long waiting-lines for beds for critical patients in all hospitals.
According to a doctor working in the Civil Hospital, “The cases are coming up a lot. Patients have shaken the department. We ourselves are barely managing to float above the surface. We have fulfilled the duties of Internal Medicine Consultants round the clock to cater exclusively to Dengue patients. “
Meanwhile, the district has issued a statement on the matter saying, “Keeping in view the increasing number of dengue fever patients in the Civil Hospital, District Panchkula, 10 beds have been increased in the emergency area and a new ward of 12 beds has been created. Has gone. was created.”
Talking to CMO Panchkula Dr Mukta Kumar Indian Express He said, ‘I will not deny the number of cases. Yes, beds are full but we are managing. There is no shortage of platelets and dengue kits are being distributed as per the written guidelines. Most of the admitted patients are from outside Panchkula. I am proud that people are coming to our hospital because of the better services provided here.”
Pakula MC indifferent about fogging
Despite the rising dengue cases in the city, which has instilled fear in the minds of residents, with overflow OPDs and long waiting-list admissions, the Panchkula Municipal Corporation, as per its fogging schedule, covers every area of the city with only fog. Will give Once every 18 days.
MC has identified 54 areas for fogging. As per the schedule, only three will be fogged every day, which will take a total of 18 days for the MC to fog up an area once. This, even after the MC last week bought 10 new thermal fogging machines as well as a vehicle mounted fogging machine. In a press statement, the MC had said, “We have initiated action on a war footing to contain the increasing outbreak of dengue in the district. The Municipal Corporation has geared up to deal with the situation.
MC Mayor Kulbhushan Goyal had claimed that fogging would be done in every ward with the help of these machines so that dengue could be completely eradicated. Municipal commissioner Dharamvir Singh had said that he hoped that with the addition of 11 more fogging machines in the fleet of the municipal corporation, timely fogging would be done in every ward of the city. But along with the schedule, residents have a different story to tell.
Sector 10 resident Bharat Hitesh has been demanding for the past several months that his sector as well as all others should be fogged up. He wrote several letters and encouraged the MC commissioner to ensure fogging but to no avail. “If you cannot provide beds in hospitals, at least provide health protection in homes. The House Owners Welfare Association (HOWA) committee in its meeting has condemned the indifferent attitude of the MC administration despite three consecutive dengue deaths in Sector 10 and dengue patients spreading rapidly in the city,” says Hitesh.
“Despite three deaths including Kamlesh Singla on September 11, Tejendra Kaur Chadha on October 11 and Ajanta Kaushal on October 22, the administration did not comply with the demand of HOWA for fogging of houses in Sector 10,” he said. it is said.
Residents have continued to urge Mayor Kulbhushan Goel and Commissioner Dharamvir Singh to launch a special drive to cut grass, bushes and door-to-door fogging in all areas of the city, but the request has fallen on deaf ears. According to an MC official who conducts fogging in the city, “There are orders from the seniors to focus on fogging in the slum areas. The general perception is that the slum areas need fog, but if we don’t fog the sectors, it is okay.”
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