ROURKELA: Tall claims on fighting malaria-dengue-diarrhoea (MDD) with increased thrust on awareness and sanitation fell flat with Sundargarh district reporting at least 48 dengue positive cases of which 40 cases are from Rourkela. No deaths though have been reported so far.
With the spurt in dengue cases, Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) and Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) have come under severe attack for their failure to take up adequate sanitation measures and contain mosquito breeding.
In July and August, in Rourkela Government Hospital (RGH), 40 persons tested positive for dengue through ELISA test with a majority of cases coming from Rourkela Industrial Township (RIT) of RSP.
RGH Chief Medical Officer Dr RC Behera said the hospital has so far received 13 patients of which six were cured, five sent to Cuttack and Burla and two are undergoing treatment at RGH.
After analysing the data, the CMO said at least 30 of the 40 dengue positive cases were from Rourkela Industrial Township with a majority of them belonging to slums of Sector 15, followed by slums of Sectors 5 and 20 and Jalda area under RIT limits. The rest of the cases are from Gopabandhupali slum and Basanti Colony of RMC limits.
Recently, the city had also reported a couple of cases of diarrhoea exposing the laxity with which awareness is being created among the people on measures to check MDD.
Rourkela District Congress Committee president and Basti Surakhya Samiti president Biren Senapati, in a scathing attack on RSP and RMC, said garbage heaps are allowed to pile up at every nook and corner of the city, while there is no effective way for evacuation of stagnant filthy water. He accused both RSP and RMC of not taking up larvaecide spraying, disinfection of stagnant water sources, bush cutting and fogging operation to curb mosquito breeding.
Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) Dr SB Naik said apart from 40 cases of RGH, Sundargarh District Headquarters Hospital (SDHH) reported eight cases, including four patients from outside district.
The administration had instructed all the four Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), health officials and workers and corporate houses to take up adequate preventive measures. The administration would be urged to issue fresh instructions, he added.