In August 2011, when the Odisha High Court came down heavily on the State Government for its “utter” failure in checking the spread of dengue, the Government did not appropriately fathom the concerns of the HC. Even the HC observation like “all claims made by the Government in sensitising the people about the disease is nothing but hollow propaganda” did not shake the Government a bit either.
Had that not been the case, Health Minister Dr Damodar Rout would not have taken the credit by saying on Saturday that the dengue menace in this year is well below the threat it caused last year. The Minister, in a sense, patted his own back saying the number of dengue cases appearing this year, is below than the numbers registered last year. But within a week, the number of dengue cases in Cuttack city itself has mounted to 46.
While by Sunday, seven patients have been discharged after treatment, 39 others are under treatment. Two of them in serious condition are in ICU and remaining 37 are in the designated dengue ward.
The increase in number of positive cases would continue for next few days as the disease has now spread to some new areas. While it was limited to Rausapatna, Nima Sahi and Haripur for past four days, new cases were reported from other places too.
Besides Cuttack city, cases from other parts of the district and the districts of Jajpur, Dhenkanal and Mayurbhanj districts are also pouring in as more and more blood samples are tested positive in the microbiology department of the hospital.