No matter that Bollywood film director Yash Chopra was 80 years old and suffering from kidney problems. When the official cause of his death on October 21 was confirmed as dengue fever it only served to heighten fears as cases of the disease have climbed in India this year.
The Ministry of Health has recorded 12,470 cases up to October versus just over 10,000 for the whole of last year. So far in 2012, 92 people ? including Chopra ? have died.
The National Vector Borne Disease Control Program, India?s front line against dengue fever which receives reports on the disease from every corner of the country, says the real figure is much higher; it estimates as many as 32,000 cases to date this year. But while statistics can be debated, nobody is denying that the disease is clearly on the rise.
South India has been particularly badly hit with 4,949 cases and 39 deaths in Tamil Nadu alone in 2012. Health professionals are also pointing to a growing number of dengue reports from New Delhi.
Last month, in a remote township of Dimapur in the far-flung northeastern state of Nagaland on the Myanmar border, two cases were reported.?However, local health officials said both victims had traveled to the capital which has become increasingly at risk.
?These were cases of dengue being imported from Delhi,? said F. Kikon, a local voluntary health worker in Nagaland.
With one more person succumbing to the disease last week in the capital, the number of deaths attributed to dengue has risen to four and there is a probe into Chopra?s death to determine whether he acquired the disease in the capital or on a film shoot in Jammu and Kashmir.
Recently the Delhi High Court served a notice to the federal government to submit a report on the implementation of a long-term plan to control the outbreak, but critics say the policy remains muddled and inadequate.
A relative of a dengue patient in a government-run hospital in New Delhi said patients are sharing beds due to a lack of space, one of a handful of problems. [More]
SOURCE:
UCA News
Source: http://philippines.ucanews.com/2012/11/15/india-struggles-to-combat-dengue-fever/
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