In view of the increasing number of dengue cases in Puducherry, Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi called for an emergency meeting on Sunday.
Addressing the media, she said the number of dengue cases had seen a rise of 700% in this season alone in Puducherry. “There is no space in the government general hospital to provide treatment to the patients and the hospital is facing a shortage of medicines. We have requested the finance secretary to release funds to meet the demand,” said Ms. Bedi.
She added that apart from the self help groups, six teams in Puducherry Municipality and seven teams in Oulgaret Municipality had been formed to create awareness on dengue and precautionary measures to be taken. “These teams will visit every house and create awareness,” she informed.
Government General Hospital Medical Superintendent S. Mohan Kumar said that beginning from June till now, nearly 2,000 patients had tested positive for dengue. Dr. Mohankumar added that nearly 40 to 45 patients were being accommodated in the wards with a capacity of only 20. “We have one male, one male medical emergency ward, one female ward, one female medical emergency ward, three special fever wards. We are providing mattresses to the patients,” he said.
He added that most of the patients were from Lawspet, Reddiyarpalayam, Thavalakuppam and Kirumambakkam. “We have sought 1000 NSI AG and IGM test kits that are used to confirm dengue cases. Besides, we want to stock more medicines. We have also requested for one cryo centrifuge machine,” he said. Puducherry Municipal Commissioner S. Gannesin and Oulgaret Municipal Commissioner M.S. Ramesh requested the public to take precautionary measures.
