The Health Minister of Uttarakhand, Surendra Singh Negi, and the Forest Minister, Dinesh Agarwal, visited the dengue infested Patharibagh area of the State Capital on Friday. The Ministers visited the houses of the affected families and directed the health officials to take all possible measures to curb the menace of dengue.
The Ministers had to face the wrath of the locals as they alleged that the State Government is not showing the empathy it should towards the affected people. Some of the locals pointed out that Chief Minister Harish Rawat had directed the health department officials to ensure the camps start at 10 in the morning but no person of the health department is seen in these camps till noon.
On it the Health Minister took the health department officers to task and directed that the camps should start at sharp 10 in the morning. He said that these camps should continue to function in the area till there is no case of dengue left in the area. A verbal duel between the forest Minister Agarwal and some locals occurred when the later complained about poor sanitation conditions of the area. Agarwal reportedly told the locals that the issue of sanitation is under the prerogative of Mayor.
The Health Minister appealed the people to ensure that water does not get collected near the houses as these serve as excellent breeding grounds for mosquitoes. He informed that the State Government has set up a ‘Dengue cell’ in the associated hospital of Government Doon Medical College (GDMC). The Nodal officer Dengue and senior Physician, Dr Praveen Panwar, Senior Pathologist Dr NK Mishra and Chief Pharmacist S M Dangwal are members of the cell with a help line number 9760342513 for all type of queries.
The Minister duo was accompanied by the Director General (DG) Health services, Dr Kusum Nariyal, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Dehradun Dr YS Thapliyal, Senior City health officer Dr Kailash Gunjyal.
The number of dengue cases in the State capital mounted to 91 with seven more samples found positive for the disease. The CMO of Dehradun, Dr YS Thapliyal said that all the positive cases reported on Friday are from Patharibagh area. he informed that 54 samples of the suspected patients of the disease were collected for Enzyme linked Immunosorbent Assay (ElISA) test on the day.