Gurugram starts evening fever clinic Civil Hospital as dengue cases rise

Officials said dengue cases have been reported from Udyog Vihar, Sector 12, Sector 39, Sector 47, Sector 21 A, Palam Vihar, Wazirabad, Basai, Kanhai Colony and Sirhaul village Badshahpur, Wazirabad, Jharsa, Bhondsi, and Sector 10, among others

The Gurugram health department on Thursday said it has taken a slew of measures to prevent the spread of dengue after 29 cases were reported in the district over the past one month.

A worker sprays insecticide to kill dengue mosquitoes along a street. The district administration has shared two helpline numbers — 18001801817 and 0124-44055779 — on which residents can call between 9am and 5pm to request fogging drives in their area. (Representational image/AFP)

The department revived its rapid response teams on Wednesday and said a fever clinic will function at the Civil Hospital in Sector 10 from 5pm to 7pm daily for six days a week and on gazetted holidays. On Sundays, the fever OPD will be open from 10am to 1pm, said officials.

According to the health department, no death from dengue has been reported in the district as yet.

Officials said dengue cases have been reported from Udyog Vihar, Sector 12, Sector 39, Sector 47, Sector 21 A, Palam Vihar, Wazirabad, Basai, Kanhai Colony and Sirhaul village Badshahpur, Wazirabad, Jharsa, Bhondsi, and Sector 10, among others.

The strain was causing low to moderate fever, and a fall in platelet count after a few days of fever, said health officials.

The district administration has shared two helpline numbers — 18001801817 and 0124-44055779 — on which residents can call between 9am and 5pm to request fogging drives in their area.

The health department also directed all hospitals, and primary/community health centres to ramp up surveillance and case detection by increasing daily sample collection.

Virender Yadav, chief medical officer, Gurugram, said teams are keeping an eye on areas with a high incidence of dengue. “Thirty-five teams are conducting house-to-house screening in dengue clusters (from where two or more cases were reported), and localities with an active transmission of the infection,” he said.

Yadav said teams are also involved in anti-mosquito larvae spraying and fogging drives in hot spots. “The rapid response teams, each comprising a doctor, pharmacist, and lab technician, are visiting hot spots for checking people and to ensure that tests are conducted on the spot,” he said.

The health officials said a 35-bed ward has been set up at the Civil Hospital to treat dengue patients, and five beds each have been set aside in Sohna and Pataudi health centres for dengue cases. “We are regularly conducting meetings with stakeholders to discuss the status of cases and to ensure that preventive measures are in place,” said Yadav.

The CMO said they have deployed 500 health officials to conduct a fever survey across the city and the officials have been told to identify symptomatic patients and get them tested at the nearest primary health centre. The survey will continue till the end of the month, he said.

Health officials also said since dengue is caused by aedes aegypti mosquito, which breeds in stagnant fresh water, they will identify locations with such stagnant water accumulation and conduct anti-mosquito drives.

“We will identify areas where there is accumulation of water and depute more teams to those areas and also also the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) to undertake fogging drives,” said Yadav.

Yadav said last year, 329 dengue cases were reported and this year the number is under control as of now, owing to the preventive measures taken by the department. “We are scaling up testing as there has been a dip in temperature over the last two days. Monsoon withdrawal also appears to be delayed, due to which chances of dengue cases going up are more,” he said.