300 dengue cases in Kolkata; Behala worst hit

KOLKATA: Some pockets in Behala are grappling with rising number of dengue cases. With monsoon still active, the situation may turn bad to worse, fear locals. Kolkata Municipal Corporation has admitted that some areas of Behala, neighbouring Maheshtala Municipality, have been the worst-affected, apart from some localities in the added areas.

“This year, around 300 confirmed dengue cases have been reported with KMC, majority of which are from the added areas.Two wards of Behala have been the worst hit,” said a senior health official at KMC.
Stray cases of dengue mainly started surfacing from the end of June. The number started rising abruptly from July end. Though no dengue death have been reported so far, some patients are being treated in the ICU.
“My granddaughter’s condition continues to be serious. She was doing good until the fever pinned her down in the ICU,” said Sunil Mukherjee, whose 8-year-old granddaughter is battling dengue in a private hospital off the EM Bypass. The family lives on Kazipara Road, close to Parnasree.
With the number of fever patients rising, the borough XIV KMC-run urban primary health centre at Vivekanda Colony in Parnashree is flooded with people daily. Health workers said the patient footfall has doubled in the past few weeks.
“Luckily, blood sample reports show most cases are of common fever and had nothing to do with dengue. But the good thing is, people are more aware and are coming for blood tests,” said a health worker.
Ward numbers 131 and 132 neighbouring Maheshtala has been identified as dengue prone by the KMC. Some pockets remained inundated even till Wednesday after the Sunday’s downpour. Residents fear the dengue problem could escalate as Aedes Egypti, the misquote specie, breeds in clean stagnant water.
“We have heard that many are affected by dengue fever in the Rabindranagar Mini Bus Stand locality, which is just about a kilometre away. Some people in my locality are already affected. We are living in fear as the outbreak could reach here any time,” said home maker, Raima Biwi from Kazipara Road.
The first reported dengue case in 2018 was a 50-year-old woman from Behala’s Parnasree.
“There is a closed factory behind our building that could be a good breeding ground for mosquito. We have informed KMC workers about this but no one has done anything about the water, which had accumulated inside the locked factory,” said Anita Mistry of Shanti Pally, whose daughter had to be hospitalised for dengue.
KMC officials also admitted abandoned buildings are posing a problem to the anti-dengue drive.
“Our Rapid Action team is visiting the dengue prone areas regularly on special drive. Apart from Behala, we are also getting cases from Jadavpur, Mukundapur and a few stray cases from Ultadanga and Narkeldanga,” said an entomologist at KMC.