BJP activists gherao BMC office over dengue menace

Bhubaneswar: Hundreds of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activists gheraoed the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) office on Wednesday, alleging negligence in tackling the dengue situation in the city.

Raising slogans against the Chief Minister, Bhubaneswar Mayor and BMC commissioner, the agitators sprayed mosquito repellents on roads and the office of the civic body as a mark of protest. “We had staged a protest one and half months back to warn the BMC about possible dengue menace in the city with the onset of monsoon. The Mayor had then said that the civic body is ready to tackle the situation,” Bhubaneswar district BJP president Babu Singh said while questioning the preparations.

He further said 100 cases of dengue are being detected every day and hospitals have run out of beds. “Doctors are returning patients asking them to get admitted to private hospitals. The Mayor and Commissioner should visit each and every corner of the city rather than sitting in AC chambers,” he said.

Notably, there have been reports about scores of dengue patients lying on the floor and corridor of Capital Hospital with wards running out of beds.

The BJP leader further accused the Health Department of suppressing dengue deaths and threatened to intensify the agitation if the situation does not improve in the coming days.

Odisha has so far reported 2,543 dengue cases. Among 117 dengue cases detected in the last 24, Khurda recorded the maximum 58 cases, 90 per cent of which were from Bhubaneswar, where 19 areas have been declared as red zones. Over 1500 patients are from the state capital.

Meanwhile, the Directorate of Public Health has asked Capital Hospital authorities to add more beds in the designated dengue wards and make provisions for a separate counter for the collection of samples. Designated dengue wards are also being opened in four urban CHCs in the city with facility for collection blood samples for testing to decongest the Capital Hospital.

“Mild cases will be first managed at the urban CHCs and if the patient’s condition worsens or platelet count comes down, they will be shifted to Capital Hospital,” Director of public health Dr Niranjan Mishra had said on Tuesday.