Patna Waterlogging: Dengue Death Causes Panic, Ink Thrown at Union Minister

Patna: With the death of a 7-year-old child due to dengue and a BJP MLA testing dengue positive, panic regarding a dengue outbreak among residents of Patna has increased. This is the first reported dengue death following the worst waterlogging incident in Bihar’s capital city after heavy rains.

Abhinav Kumar, son of a Bihar police constable, died in a hospital on Monday (October 14) night. He was suffering from dengue fever for the last few days.

Sanjeev Chourasia, BJP MLA from Digha Assembly seat in Patna, has also been tested dengue positive. Besides, over one dozen police officials are undergoing treatment after being affected by dengue fever.

According to health department officials, dengue has spread to new residential localities in Patna in the last two days as fresh dengue cases are being reported from there. Till Tuesday morning, the number of dengue positive cases in Patna alone stood at 1,195, while the total number of dengue cases reported in the state was over 1,500.

Also read: Patna Residents Fear Rise in Dengue Cases, Demand Regular Fogging

In Patna, more than 80 dengue patients are undergoing treatment in the government-run Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) and different private hospitals.

The rising number of dengue cases has left the residents of Patna—who were already angry with waterlogging for days—infuriated with the administration and political leaders. On Tuesday, a youth threw ink at Union Minister Aswani Kumar Choubey during his visit to the dengue ward in PMCH. The youth fled from the scene afterwards.

The accused youth has reportedly identified himself as Nishant Kumar Jha, a youth activist of Jan Adhikar Party (JAP). He said that this was his way of protesting against the NDA government in state and at the centre for neglecting waterlogged victims in Patna for days.

Several people have expressed unhappiness by blaming government agencies for negligence and have demanded that urgent steps be taken to ensure regular fogging and spraying of bleaching and lime powder as well as speeding up of the cleanliness drive.

District officials said dengue is spreading fast among the waterlogged victims in the worst waterlogged residential localities here after water receded. Waterlogging is main cause of spread of dengue in the city.

What has become a bigger worry for health officials is that waterlogging still remains a problem in certain residential areas. Health officials said that water logging help these vector-borne diseases to spread faster due to increased mosquito breeding. Another disturbing fact is that not only is dengue spreading, there are also reported cases of chikunguniya, diarrhoea and stomach upset from waterlogged areas.

Patna civil surgeon Dr R K Choudhary said arrangements have been made for dengue test in all primary health centres in view of increasing dengue cases after waterlogging.

According to a top health department officer, measures have been started to prevent an outbreak of diseases and teams of doctors will soon visit affected areas to provide medical treatment if needed.

Also read: Bihar Floods: Angry Waterlogging Victims Protest Across Patna