Opposition parties Congress and BJP on Saturday targeted the Naveen Patnaik Government for failing to effectively tackle the dengue menace in the State as the viral disease is now spreading panic with more and more patients testing positive to the disease.
Visiting separately the SCB Medical College Hospital here on the day, Pradesh Congress Committee president Prasad Harichandan and BJP State president Basanta Panda came down heavily on the Government for putting the urban sanitations in A terrible mess.
“Civic bodies across the State are virtually defunct. The situation in Cuttack city is most horrible as sanitation and cleanliness here have gone haywire due to unplanned work undertaken by the JICA to refurbish the drainage and sewerage system,” Prasad said.
“Dengue has been assuming an epidemic form since 2011. Every year during monsoon, the disease is creating havoc across the State and the State government during this period has failed to fathom its severity,” the BJP State chief alleged, suggesting for an all-party meeting on the situation.
Meanwhile, the number of dengue patients at the SCB Hospital on Saturday crossed 50, and by evening the hospital was treating at least 56 patients. Out of 75 blood samples received on Friday, 26 tested positive to dengue virus, hospital sources said.
looking at the rise in number of dengue patients, the hospital is now planning to increase the bed strength of its exclusive ward from 80 to 100. Besides, requisitions have been made to man the ward with more doctors and paramedic staff.
Elsewhere in the State, the dengue situation is alarmingly worsening in the mining townships of Keonjhar district. Reports reaching here said that out of 924 blood samples collected in the district, 325 of them have tested positive to the dengue virus.