74-year-old Ramgarh Resident Succumbs to Dengue Fever in Kolkata

A 74-year-old Ramgarh resident, who was suffering from dengue, died in a private nursing home in Kolkata's Garia on Thursday.

The city has seen a spike in mosquito-borne diseases like dengue, chikungunya and malaria following heavy rains with Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) waging a war to combat the deadly viral infection.

The deceased, Gayatri Guha, was diagnosed with the mosquito-borne disease dengue a few days back. She was also suffering from a chronic kidney ailment and was being treated at the private nursing home in south Kolkata, The Times of India reported.

Deputy mayor Atin Ghosh, who is also in charge of the KMC health department, responded to a query from Left Front councillors, admitted that there had been a spurt in dengue cases of dengue cases across the city from September 1 to September 9.

According to him, during this period, 214 cases had been reported. Of these, 40 cases alone were reported from Baghajatin, Ramgarh, Gangulybagan, New Alipore, Golf Green, Anwar Shah Road and Jodhpur Park.

Debasish Mukherjee, an RSP councilor who represents parts of Baghajatin, Ramgarh and Vidyasagar areas alleged that KMC was trying to play down the dengue threat in Ramgarh and Vidyasagar.

He said that he has records to prove that at least 70 people tested positive for teh mosquito-borne disease in areas such as Raipur Mandalpara, Ramgarh and Gangulybagan areas in the last 15 days.

He further added that he has submitted the documents and is awaiting a reply from the civic health department.

Furthermore, a KMC health department official said that documents submitted by the RSP councillor were subject to scrutiny. Though the civic official did not rule out Mukherjee’s concern but said the spurt in number of dengue cases was not unusual during this time.

The KMC health department official said that it has been seen from previous records that September is the month when dengue takes a turn for the worse. However, they have alerted their rapid action teams and asked them to keep a constant vigil on dengue-prone areas.

Notably, rampant construction work without taking to account relevant measures to flush out stagnant water, lack of access to locked or abandoned buildings in locality have become breeding grounds for dengue mosquitoes as well as mosquitoes that transmit malaria and chikungunya.

Non-removal of garbage are the main reasons for the spurt in the number of dengue cases, said a KMC health department official.

The civic body’s health wing will conduct a special drive in areas under borough X where dengue had claimed maximum number of lives last year, said a civic official, the report added.