AlaskaDenise
In Memoriam
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEK20060418032056&Page=K&Title=Southern+News+%2D+Karnataka&Topic=0&
Tuesday April 18 2006 13:42 IST
GULBARGA: Chikungunya epidemic has been raging on as the health and zilla panchayat authorities continue to grope in the dark.
The epidemic is said to have claimed a number of lives in the district although the administration has officially acknowledged only the death of a woman in Madara village in Jewargi taluk. Hundreds of patients are contracting the vector borne disease and their miseries are becoming serious day by day.
The epidemic is so serious that a special meeting of the zilla panchayat was convened here on Monday to take stock of the situation.
The members expressed concern over the spread of the epidemic. They took the health authorities to task for their failure to bring the disease under control.
They complained that though people were dying of chikungunya the administration had remained apathetic.
Nearly half of the villages in the district have reported the viral disease carried by aedes mosquito. According to the district health and family welfare officer Dr.Pandurang Poojary, the epidemic has made its presence felt in 640 villages in the district.
This means every other village in the district is a victim of Chikungunya. In the first week of April, 5638 cases and in the second week 4368 cases were reported.
These are the cases reported only in the government hospitals. The administration does not have any system or mechanism to take into account the number of cases coming to private hospitals.
Whenever Chikungunya is referred to, the administration talks only about purchase of fogging machines as if they are the sole solutions to contain the disease. They have given no priority to sanitation thereby he conditions are also made worse.
The meeting was told that 40 fogging machines had been put into service in the district for carrying out fogging in affected villages.
However, not even half of the affected villages have been fogged so far. The administration is now planning to buy another 40 fogging machines.
The meeting presided over by ZP president Yellappa Kurkundi decided to constitute a house committee to monitor the situation arising out of the epidemic
.
Tuesday April 18 2006 13:42 IST
GULBARGA: Chikungunya epidemic has been raging on as the health and zilla panchayat authorities continue to grope in the dark.
The epidemic is said to have claimed a number of lives in the district although the administration has officially acknowledged only the death of a woman in Madara village in Jewargi taluk. Hundreds of patients are contracting the vector borne disease and their miseries are becoming serious day by day.
The epidemic is so serious that a special meeting of the zilla panchayat was convened here on Monday to take stock of the situation.
The members expressed concern over the spread of the epidemic. They took the health authorities to task for their failure to bring the disease under control.
They complained that though people were dying of chikungunya the administration had remained apathetic.
Nearly half of the villages in the district have reported the viral disease carried by aedes mosquito. According to the district health and family welfare officer Dr.Pandurang Poojary, the epidemic has made its presence felt in 640 villages in the district.
This means every other village in the district is a victim of Chikungunya. In the first week of April, 5638 cases and in the second week 4368 cases were reported.
These are the cases reported only in the government hospitals. The administration does not have any system or mechanism to take into account the number of cases coming to private hospitals.
Whenever Chikungunya is referred to, the administration talks only about purchase of fogging machines as if they are the sole solutions to contain the disease. They have given no priority to sanitation thereby he conditions are also made worse.
The meeting was told that 40 fogging machines had been put into service in the district for carrying out fogging in affected villages.
However, not even half of the affected villages have been fogged so far. The administration is now planning to buy another 40 fogging machines.
The meeting presided over by ZP president Yellappa Kurkundi decided to constitute a house committee to monitor the situation arising out of the epidemic
.