Dengue Fever
500 cases of dengue fever have been detected and a dozen people have died of the debililtating viral fever. The Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit and the union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss feel there is no reason for panic, or to declare it as an epidemic.
At the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, one doctor has died due to unhygienic conditions in India’s premier hospital. Civic authorities have issued notices to Delhi hospitals whose premises have become breeding grounds for dengue mosquitoes.
Chikungunya a similar fever is sweeping the southern states, and has killed 60 people in Kerala.
The cause of both is the Aedes Aegypti mosquito that thrives in squalor and stagnant water, both of which are in ample supply all over India. Coupled with those diseases polio has reemerged in the country. The World Heath Organization, referred to India as the only country that is actively exporting the virus to other countries.
It is a strange juxtaposition, new and posh malls, designer boutiques, nuclear weapons, high tech industries, call centers and medieval diseases, poverty, lack of sanitation and lack of clean drinking water.
Most of the middle class people that I meet are in the process of recovering from fever, coughs and colds. Dengue fever has even affected the Prime Minister’s grandsons and son in law. I wish them a speedy recovery, but hopefully that will make politicians and civil servants wake up to the reality of a functioning health care system for all of India’s people.
At the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, one doctor has died due to unhygienic conditions in India’s premier hospital. Civic authorities have issued notices to Delhi hospitals whose premises have become breeding grounds for dengue mosquitoes.
Chikungunya a similar fever is sweeping the southern states, and has killed 60 people in Kerala.
The cause of both is the Aedes Aegypti mosquito that thrives in squalor and stagnant water, both of which are in ample supply all over India. Coupled with those diseases polio has reemerged in the country. The World Heath Organization, referred to India as the only country that is actively exporting the virus to other countries.
It is a strange juxtaposition, new and posh malls, designer boutiques, nuclear weapons, high tech industries, call centers and medieval diseases, poverty, lack of sanitation and lack of clean drinking water.
Most of the middle class people that I meet are in the process of recovering from fever, coughs and colds. Dengue fever has even affected the Prime Minister’s grandsons and son in law. I wish them a speedy recovery, but hopefully that will make politicians and civil servants wake up to the reality of a functioning health care system for all of India’s people.
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