After declaration of dengue fever as an epidemic in West Bengal by Chief Minister Buddhabeb Bhattacharya last week. Both Dengue and suspected Japanese Encephalitis has caused 45 deaths and has hospitalized more than 2000 people in West Bengal. The confirmed death due to dengue is claimed to be at 20 in West Bengal and 25 cases of death is suspected to be caused by Japanese encephalitis. Japanese encephalitis infection is said to have occurred in the Central district of Malda.
Scientists and Medical Officers from Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) visited the hospitals in West Bengal were the patients are being treated and the officials are not happy with the control measures taken by the Government to curb the spread of dengue disease.In Kolkata, the city mayor declared 70 percent of the municipal wards dengue affected on Tuesday, while earlier the state health minister had admitted that dengue has become an epidemic in Bengal. "So far, 19 people have died from dengue," Prabhakar Chatterjee, the state's health services chief, said.
The Divison bench of Chief Justice V.S. Sirpurkar and Justice A.K. Ganguly has asked the authorities to work in coordination with general physicians to ensure that the suspected patients undergo blood test for dengue and the exact number of the cases is ascertained. The chief justice as also directed all Pharmacies in Kolkata to function from 8 A.M. to 10 P.M. for the benefit of the people and the functioning of the pharmacies and hospitals to be monitored by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC).
Gopal Sarkar, Chief Medical Officer of Malda his not happy with the hospital infrastructure and facilities to treat patients who were infected by suspected Japanese encephalitis which has already claimed 25 lives, the patients infected suffered from fever and the virus as affected their brain. Sarkar said, “We are trying to conduct entomological and epidemiological survey to find out the specific vector causing the disease.”
Source : IANS,BBC World
