Even as dengue has claimed one life at the Gurdwara Chowk area in Mansa town recently besides 20 others getting affected by the disease in the past two months, the apathetic district health authorities are still waiting for the confirmation of the death so that they can start their follow-up of using anti-mosquito spray.
A locality resident, Gyan Chand (45), died of dengue recently.
If any patient is confirmed to be suffering from dengue, the health teams, as per norms, had to immediately carry out fogging in the patient's house and surrounding houses besides creating awareness about the disease among them. But in Mansa, the health teams are least bothered to take any such measures.
HT, on Tuesday, had reported about the death of Gyan Chand, who died of dengue at Fortis hospital in SAS Nagar after being referred there from a private institute in Mansa.
The district health authorities feigned ignorance about the death and claimed to have used anti-mosquito spray in that area after the death was officially confirmed.
A goldsmith, Chinderpal Singh, also a resident of Gurdwara Chowk, was found suffering from dengue on October 23. He got treatment from a private institute in Patiala after being referred from Mansa. Health teams visited his house few days after he returned after treatment. "My neighbour contracted dengue after me, but the health team visited us some days after I returned. They only used anti-mosquito spray in my house and went back," he said.
Baljit Singh and his mother Jaswinder Kaur, also residents of Gurdwara Chowk, recovered from dengue few days back. "A team visited us several days after we had recovered. My mother got dengue first and we got her treated at Ludhiana but none of the health officials visited us. After few days I also became a victim of the disease and got treatment from Ludhiana. The health teams are not visiting the affected people and all pleas have fallen on deaf ears. My neighbour Dhanraj had also recovered from dengue," Baljit Singh said.
{{/usCountry}}Baljit Singh and his mother Jaswinder Kaur, also residents of Gurdwara Chowk, recovered from dengue few days back. "A team visited us several days after we had recovered. My mother got dengue first and we got her treated at Ludhiana but none of the health officials visited us. After few days I also became a victim of the disease and got treatment from Ludhiana. The health teams are not visiting the affected people and all pleas have fallen on deaf ears. My neighbour Dhanraj had also recovered from dengue," Baljit Singh said.
{{/usCountry}}Two other residents of the area, Rakesh Rani and Kala Sharma, could not afford treatment from higher institutes and preferred to get treatment from a private hospital in Mansa. They claimed that none of the health officials had ever visited their house.
Another goldsmith, Thandu Ram, also a resident of Gurdwara Chowk, had recently recovered from dengue while his brother Barinder Kumar, who is suffering from the disease, has been admitted to DMC, Ludhiana. "Nobody from the health department had visited us. We don't know even about the role prescribed to these officials."
When contacted, Mansa civil surgeon Dr JS Minhas said, "Our officials had not visited victim Gyan Chand as his death was not confirmed officially. Regular fogging is being done by the municipal council while we are continuing with follow-up of patients with immediate effect."