Adilabad: Dengue cases among children are on the rise in old Adilabad district with high breeding of mosquitoes, poor sanitation and water lagging due to heavy rains in recent days.
According to rough estimates, more than 200 people including children are undergoing treatment for dengue at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Adilabad.
It is said that three children died of dengue in the last 10 days in Adilabad district. The panchayat raj, municipal and RWS departments must work in coordination to deal with the prevailing situation. Water contamination has become a big problem in flood-affected areas.
Some parents are having sleepless nights on seeing sudden fall in platelets in their children suffering from dengue, causing panic among family members. A large number of children are getting admitted with dengue symptoms in private and government hospitals.
It is learnt that the existing beds are not sufficient for patients in the children’s wards since children from across old Adilabad district are coming to the RIMS.
More than 60 percent of dengue patients at the RIMS are from Nirmal district that witnessed floods recently. Shortage of paediatricians is also affecting the treatment of children at the RIMS. There are only three paediatricians working at the RIMS now.
The continuous rains in the already flood-affected areas are further deteriorating the health situation in Nirmal and more people are falling prey to dengue.
Cases are being reported from slums in the urban areas where poor sanitation and water lagging are leading to health problems. Nirmal medical and health department officials are referring dengue patients to the RIMS for treatment.
However, the shortage of blood in the blood bank at the RIMS also has become a problem for dengue patients since administering platelets to the patients is a must. These platelets could be extracted from the available stored blood.
Private and government hospitals are depending on the lone blood bank at the RIMS for the platelets.
