Around 900 Dengue tested positive case in Siliguri

Siliguri : Around 900 people from Siliguri and adjoining blocks of Jalpaiguri district have tested positive for dengue since the last week of August, according to data provided by the district health department of Darjeeling today. North Bengal development minister Gautam Deb held a meeting with the district magistrate Punit Yadav, officials from the Siliguri Municipal Corporation and the health department to discuss steps to control the outbreak.Deb, who held the meeting at the PWD inspection bungalow, said: “In total, 894 people have tested positive with dengue in the past one month, and seven of them have died. Another 278 people are suspected to be suffering from the disease and are yet to get the results of MacElisa, the confirmatory test for dengue.”

At present, the dengue confirmatory tests are conducted at North Bengal Medical College and Hospital. The reports for these tests come in 4-5 days. “We are making efforts to install machines at the Siliguri district hospital through which the MacElisa test is done. I have talked with state urban development and municipal affairs minister Firhad Hakim for his intervention and assistance,” he said.“The district magistrate has been asked to monitor the entire process of precautionary measures and treatment,” Deb said. Since the outbreak of the disease in Siliguri a month back, there have been differences among the state government and the Congress-run board of SMC. Deb has blamed the civic body for its failure to check the outbreak. “It is high time the outbreak is controlled through a concerted effort. A joint committee has been formed but unfortunately, there is hardly any proactive and consistent drive from the SMC. 

We are disappointed to note that the mayor and members of the civic board are sitting idle with no visible initiative from their side,” Deb added. Two senior doctors, a virologist and an expert in public health and communicable diseases, will arrive here tomorrow from Calcutta to assist doctors at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital and the Siliguri District Hospital. SMC mayor Gangotri Datta held a meeting with the officials of the civic body today.“We are forming teams which will work across the city to prevent spreading of the disease,” she said.