Dengue cases on the uptick in Manipur
'Govt should declare an outbreak'
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, September 02 2023:
Caught up as Manipur is in the human tragedy since the last 4 months, nobody seems to have given adequate attention to the growing number of Dengue infection in the State.
Quoting a doctor working in the State Government, a source said that the situation demands for the Government to officially declare an outbreak of Dengue in the State.
According to rules, the Government has to rely on the VDRL testing using Eliza available at RIMS and JNIMS, said the source and added that to get such a test done, RIMS asks for a forwarding letter from the Chief Medical Officer or a competent authority.
This could prove to be a cumbersome procedure for people living in the remote areas and more so in the present situation, said the source and added that since majority of the people in Manipur have poor accessibility to health, there should be relaxation in the norms to declare the outbreak of Dengue.
The source said that a number of Dengue positive patients have been treated at private hospitals in Imphal and added that in the month of July alone 30 positive cases were reported in July.
And in the month of August that is till August 21, 74 Dengue cases were reported, said the source adding that this was also mentioned in a health talk on All India Radio on August 22 .
As cases in private hospitals and private testing labs are treated as suspected cases, the source said that RIMS and JNIMS should be asked to count the cases detected at the private centres.
Once the actual cases, including those detected at the private centres, are counted, the Government may take up preventive measures such as fogging, said the source further.