JAGATSINGHPUR:Despite testing negative for dengue, a nine-year-old child with suspected symptoms of the vector-borne disease has been forced to skip school after being humiliated and harassed by his classmates within Raghunathpur police limits.
A student of Class IV in Gopalpur Primary School, Kanha Sahu of Kharipadia village under Raghunathpur block has stopped attending classes after fellow students ostracised him for being a dengue patient.
Sources said Kanha was affected with fever last week. However, locals raised an alarm and declared that the boy was suffering from dengue without conducting the confirmatory tests.
After hearing the news, health officials from district headquarters hospital and Raghunathpur CHC, Anganwadi and ASHA workers rushed to the village and conducted awareness programmes to check the spread of the disease.On the other hand, when the fever showed no signs to subside, Kanha was referred to Sishu Bhawan at Cuttack by the local doctor. After conducting necessary tests, which proved negative, at Sishu Bhawan on August 6, Kanha returned back to his village.
After a week’s gap, the boy went to school on Wednesday but was shocked to find his classmates and other students treating him as a pariah. Fellow students even refused to talk to him as they thought Kanha was suffering from dengue. After being isolated in the class, Kanha came home and narrated his plight to his parents. Expecting the same treatment from his classmates, he refused to go to school on Thursday.
Kanha’s father Kalandi Sahu said, ‘’After being informed by my son, I rushed to the school with the test reports and clarified that Kanha was not suffering from dengue.’’ Though the headmaster and teachers allowed Kanha to attend classes after being convinced by the test results, other students refused to sit with him, Kalandi said and added that his son is refusing to go school in fear of humiliation.
In-charge Block Education Officer Rajyashree Sahu said there is no restriction on dengue students to attend classes in school. ‘’I have not received any such complaint from Gopalpur Primary School,’’ she added.
Sources said panic has gripped residents of the district after the death of a 78-year-old woman, identified as Shantilata Das of Kotina village within Tirtol police limits, of swine flu in a private hospital in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. Besides, 10 persons have been affected by the vector-borne disease in different villages of the district.
District Malaria Officer Manabhajan Satapathy said 10 dengue cases have been reported so far. The boy of Kharipadia has tested negative for dengue and villagers need not panic, he added.