Chittoor in grip of dengue

Even senior medical officials held the negligence and apathy of the staff as the reason for the spread of dengue.

According to official reports, dengue has claimed 15 lives or more out of 350 cases registered in the district in July alone. Most of the people affected by dengue are going to private and corporate hospitals, some of them as far as Chennai and Bengaluru, unsure of their treatment at government hospitals.

A senior medical officer at Sri Venkateswara Ramnarayan Ruia (Ruia) Hospital said on condition of anonymity that the disease had spread because of the indifference of the district health and medical officials and lack of awareness about dengue. He said they should have started the awareness campaigns and begun taking precautionary measures in March itself.

Ruia Hospital superintendent, Dr T. Sandhya, said 30 patients were admitted in one week with dengue symptoms and expressed concern over the paediatric ward situation where 130 children are getting treatment and some were discharged after cured.

She said Ruia Hospital was the best place to treat dengue and had stocks of platelets and medicines even for future needs. She advised patients to come to Ruia Hospital instead of spending a large amount in private and corporate hospitals.

Ruia Hospital paediatrics' head of the department, Dr Ravi Kumar, also said the institution had good treatment for dengue and had the staff to treat the cases.

District collector Siddarth Jain on Sunday warned the health and medical officials to take serious action against those who are not sincere at their duties. He directed them to take precautionary measures to prevent further spread of the disease.

“I won't spare anybody if they are not sincere in rendering services to those who come to hospitals with fever,” he warned.