After 3,988 cases and 49 deaths because of dengue being reported across the nation except few states, it is now the State of Punjab which is falling under the grip of it. Number of hospitals are getting cases from across the state who are now finding it difficult to manage the inflow of patients.

The difficulty is all the more aggravated as the government hospitals are not properly equipped with the facilities required and the patients are now being sent to PGI in Chandigarh or private medical college hospitals in Ludhiana. It has been reported that more than 50,000 cases approximately has come up.

Government hospitals who faces lack of platelets transfusion facility as well as shortage in number of beds, are unable to serve the people particularly the poor families who now have to spend around Rs500 to Rs1,000 daily on medicines. The state health department is working at its best sending teams of additional doctors and other paramedical staff wherever required.

The state department who was facing lack of facility had to sometime send the blood samples to Delhi for dengue’s confirmatory tests. Despite the chief minister Parkash Singh Badal’s announcement of dengue patients being treated freely in civil hospitals, many people have been found of spending huge sum of money for the same. However, various civil hospital authorities on the other hand claimed that no official notice has been sent to them till now.

Luxmi Kanta Chawla, Punjab health minister asserted that the CM has already given its consent that the health department may use money from the Natural Calamity Fund to tackle the dengue crisis prevalent in the state however declaration of dengue wave as an epidemic is yet to be done.

The chief secretary RI Singh has been directed by the CM to form special teams in medical colleges and hospitals via medical education and research, health and family welfare departments to tackle the crisis and to create awareness about the causes, symptoms and cure of the disease.