Recently, an Odia couple committed suicide in the national capital of Delhi as their dengue-hit child was denied treatment access in two prominent hospitals leading to his death.
The incident created uproar not only within the capital city of India, but also throughout the country and especially in Odisha. Our beloved Chief Minister immediately sanctioned a few lakhs of rupees of ex gratia to console the bereaved family. The incident also brought to the fore the state of healthcare facilities available to the denizens of Delhi besides the denial of access to the common people to leading hospitals there.
The couple who could not bear the agony of their only child’s death jumped to death from their rented house in a multistoried apartment. Originally, they belonged to Kendrapada district.
Dengue is a tropical disease and is spread by mosquitoes. It is a viral disease. The mosquitoes carry the virus. Its symptoms include fever, headache, muscle and joint pains and a characteristic skin rash that is similar to measles. In a small proportion of cases, the disease develops into the life-threatening dengue hemorrhagic fever, resulting in bleeding, low levels of blood platelets and blood plasma leakage, or into dengue shock syndrome, where dangerously low blood pressure occurs. Dengue is transmitted by several species of mosquito within the genus Aedes.
The origins of the Spanish word dengue are not certain, but it is possibly derived from dinga in the Swahili phrase Ka-dinga pepo, which describes the disease as being caused by an evil spirit. Slaves in the West Indies having contracted dengue were said to have the posture and gait of a dandy, and the disease was known as “dandy fever”.
As physicians opine that there is no specific treatment for the fever, the patents should be taken care till recovery. Mosquito nets should be used all along to prevent the patients from mosquito bites.
Otherwise the fever gets transmitted to the normal people. The diets should be restricted to rice gruel, soft boiled eggs and fruits. The patients should be given cool boiled water and fruit juices.
Unhealthy and uncongenial environment is responsible for breeding of mosquitoes and the spread of dengue. The number of dengue patients is on the rise in Delhi. While the Delhi Government is partly responsible for it, the civil society of the capital should also be blamed for this. If the hygiene of the capital had been maintained properly, such situation would not have arisen. The maintenance of hygiene is not only bad in Delhi, but also deplorable in Bhubaneswar as in other State capitals. The respective civic bodies in Delhi and Bhubaneswar must accept the bitter truth and take measures to address the problem immediately.
The tax payers’ money is not honestly utilised for public benefits like better public health management. The private and Government hospitals are rising everywhere like mushrooms and are often alleged to be fleecing. They are also dumping tons of solid waste which leads to environmental pollution. The hospital wastes are generally thrown in nearby water bodies and open grounds which are the sources of several diseases. Everybody should use mosquito net individually for protection not only from dengue but also from other disease like malaria and filariasis.
The denial of treatment to the dengue-hit child by the hospitals in Delhi is a case of human rights violation. The most important factor is physician – patient relationship which is growing very bad in India for commercial factor. The relationship between patients and doctors at all levels of treatment needs to be humane. A caring and devoted doctor always gives a healing touch to the patients and brings great amount of relief for them. The physician – patient relationship must be based on mutual understanding and should not be always driven by financial concerns. The
physician must create an atmosphere so that the patient feels he is being treated by a correct physician.
Therefore the physician-patient relationship must be frank and free. But the relationship in our country is hundred per cent commercial and everything depends on give-and-take. If you have money and influence in the society you and your people will be well attended by the right physicians. The corrupt practices are going on in every medical centres and houses, big or small. The State Government becomes a mute onlooker. I is high time, the Government protected the interest of the common people and save them from the clutches of the greedy and inhuman doctors.
(The writer is a former senior forest officer and an environmentalist. Tel no 9937460649)