After visiting the Dengue affected areas of Dhanpur under Sepahijala district by a team of four opposition CPI(M) MLAs in a letter to the Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha, they have expressed their serious concern over daily increasing cases of vector borne disease and demanded adequate health services in all affected areas, distribution of mosquito nets and to bear the medical expenses of dengue patients.

The four CPI(M) MLAs including Shyamal Chakraborty, Ramu Das, Sudip Sarkar and Nayan Sarkar in the letter to Chief Minister Dr Saha wrote that on Thursday they visited Dhanpur Primary Hospital and spoke to the dengue patients, doctors, nurses, and other staff of the hospital and inquired about the medical services of the patients, who are under treatment and also enquired the infrastructural problems of the hospital.

The MLAs in their letter to the Chief Minister said that they had interacted with doctors at the Dhanpur PHC and were informed that patients with high fever started coming to the hospital last July 13 and the number of patients is increasing day by day. Currently, an average of 40 to 50 positive patients are coming to the hospital every day. The doctor said that even after increasing the number of beds from existing six to 30, the situation is beyond control. Moreover, there is a severe shortage of all types of medical staff such as nurses, para-medic workers, ward boys, cleaners, etc. in hospitals. At present, there is very less chance to admit new patients and presently, Dhanpur Primary Hospital has a total of three doctors including one doctor who got posted recently.  Among the posted doctors, one doctor has also been affected with fever. So, in these present circumstances, it is not possible to provide treatment facilities to many patients’ day and night with five nurses and few doctors, said the MLAs in their letter.

They also said that during their visit, some local people have also exchanged their views with the MLA and they stated an environment of panic prevails in the entire area due to dengue. They also assured the hospital patients and doctors, nurses and other staff to draw the attention of the government to take necessary measures to tackle the situation and extension of medical services.

The CPI(M) MLAs requested the state government to urgently take measures to deal with the situation and demanded to increase the number of doctors, nurses and other health staff at Dhanpur PHC, distribution of free mosquito nets to poor families immediately and massive awareness campaigns against dengue, spraying of anti-mosquito medicines in the affected areas and government should bear all the medical expenses of all dengue affected patients.