Haryana reported thirteen deaths due to Vector Bourne Disease (VBD) dengue from several districts so far in 2022, the highest since 2015. Besides, the acute spike is being witnessed in fresh cases day by day which added to the woes of the health department. Health experts are of the opinion that officials the number of cases might increase.
The tally is already significantly higher. According to the statistics made available by the health department as many as 4550 cases reported in 2017. While In 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020, the caseload was 2,494, 1,936, 1,207 and 1,377, respectively. Apart from this, the state witnessed 11,835 cases in 2021, the highest number in last 7 years.
Districts with the highest number of cases have been marked ‘most affected’. These include Panchkula (1756) Hisar (1056}, Sonipat (506) , Gurugram (414), jind (243), Rewari (222), Ambala (241) and list of less affected includes Faridabad, Nuh, Palwal, Fatehabad, Bhiwani, Mahendragarh, Kurukshetra, Rohtak, Kaithal and Sirsa districts with 7, 2, 2, 72, 86, 61, 49, 107, 72 and 157 cases respectively. Of the total 5,856 cases reported this year, 4111 were reported by government hospitals and 1745 by private facilities.
In wake of the spurt in fresh cases, dengue along with three other vector bourne disease in the state has been made notifiable till 31st March 2024 under Epidemic Disease Act 1897 i.e., reporting of these diseases is mandatory by all Govt/Pvt. hospitals/labs in the State.
Anil Vij, the state health minister said that all possible steps are being taken to prevent and control dengue. Necessary instructions have been issued to the officials so that there is no problem in the treatment of the patients. All required arrangements along with testing facility have been made in the hospitals. People need to take precautions to prevent disease and do not take any kind of carelessness, he added further.
One of the senior health officials informed that that All districts are under directions to admit dengue patients with low platelet count at the earliest at hospitals to prevent mortality due to the disease. Hospitals are also under directions to increase the bed capacity for dengue patients. It is worth stating that provision of free Single Donor Platelets (SDP) has been made for dengue patients of Haryana residence admitted in Government Hospitals since 2020.
