Dengue claims life in Mandi

Dipender Manta

Tribune News Service

Mandi, August 20

Dengue has claimed the life of a person in Mandi district which created panic among people as the cases are on the rise.

It was the first dengue death. The patient had been under treatment at Zonal Hospital, Mandi, for past few days. On Sunday, he was referred to PGI, Chandigarh. But the 43-year-old patient of Dehar village died at Swarghat in Bilaspur on way to Chandigarh.

It has sounded alarm bells for the district heath authorities. The worst-affected area of the district was Dehar village in Sundernagar where more than 10 cases were found positive.

As many as 25 cases of dengue have been reported from the district.

Concerned about the safety of people, Sundernagar MLA Rakesh Jamwal called a meeting of the health authorities and officials of other departments and public representatives at Dehar village on Monday and asked them to take effective steps to check the virus.

Thirteen teams comprising health workers, Asha workers, officials of the IPH Department and gram panchayat representatives were constituted to monitor the dengue outbreak.

Chief Medical Officer Jeeva Nand Chauhan said there was no need to panic and urged the people to ensure cleanliness.

“The main reason of the dengue outbreak was stored water near villages, which provides congenial environment for mosquito breeding,” he added.

“A person suffering from dengue should visit government hospital without any delay where the test is to be conducted free of cost. The health authorities are providing free treatment,” he said.

He said the patient, who died of dengue, had multiple diseases. Dengue was curable and there was no need to worry.