HYDERABAD: Colonies surrounding the Gopi Cheruvu in Chandanagar are in a state of emergency as at least three children have died in the past 10 days, due to seasonal fevers and suspected dengue. The silent killer snuffed out the first life on August 25, when 14-year-old E Avinash succumbed to cardiac arrest after suffering from dengue encephalitis as per hospital records. A resident of Papireddy colony, the child’s platelet count just before death was 66,000 which was too low.
The next string of deaths occurred in another colony called Gopi Nagar. The victims were three-year-old Aarushi and six-month-old Aditya, both of whom belonged to a same family. While the reason for their death is unclear, both were diagnosed with viral fever, extreme dehydration and low sugar, and died on consecutive days of August 30 and August 31.
Shockingly, neither the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) nor the Health Department has taken any concrete steps to sanitise the area.“A day after Avinash died, the GHMC officials came in and picked up the waste lying in front of our house and put some powder. Since, then, they have not been seen and waste is accumulating. We are planning to sell our house and leave,” said a grieving Suneetha E, whose niece, Abhinaya is taking treatment for dengue for the last one week.
They also allege that the colony in front of theirs is built illegally and so the GHMC has not laid sewage lines, making them release wastewater out in the open. In Gopi Nagar, the GHMC’s sanitation and entomology wings have not even visited the site where the two children died, despite the mini-pond being readied by GHMC for Ganesh Chathurthi, just a stone’s throw away. Meanwhile, GHMC officials state that the death in Papireddy colony was only a suspected dengue case, but there is no conclusive evidence.
An NGO is now conducting awareness drives in the area and asking the people to use concoctions of coconut oil with camphor, neem and tulsi leaves for dengue prevention as GHMC holds fogging only intermittently.
“The whole area needs urgent intervention from the government in terms of prevention and one-time solution. Especially in Gopi Nagar, where there is blockage in the manholes and the UGD pipelines carrying sewage is broken, which is leading to the spread of diseases. They must act before it is too late,” noted Kalpana Ramesh from SAHE.
GHMC asked to amp up sanitation levels in city
Hyderabad: The GHMC in co-ordination with the Health Department will be conducting special mosquito breeding prevention drives in Hyderabad to curtail the rising fever and fears of potential dengue outbreak. The decision was taken at a meeting held at the GHMC head office presided by Minister of Health Etala Rajender, who stated that there were no serious infectious diseases spreading in Hyderabad and that the diseases are only seasonal, which occur every rainy season. He stressed that compared to 2017, the dengue cases were negligible and that all stakeholder departments have been asked to amp up their drive against the spread of the disease.
Toddler succumbs to dengue in Sec’bad as numbers rise
Hyderabad: A four-and-a-half-year-old child from Lalapet, Tarnaka, succumbed to dengue fever at Rainbow Hospital on Wednesday morning. According to M Srinivas, her neighbour, K Ruthvika, had been suffering from fever for the past couple of days. “The parents had taken her to a local doctor who had diagnosed her for viral fever. After a few days, when the fever did not subside, they took her to Navodaya Hospital who referred them to Rainbow Hospital. However, doctors at Rainbow Hospital said that her condition was critical and it was too late to do anything.”