By Express News Service
JAGATSINGHPUR: IN a glaring example of the failure of the Health and Family Welfare department in creating awareness on dengue prevention, villagers at Kanaguli under Ersama block have resorted to religious and superstitious practices to ward off the disease.
With dengue cases rising, residents, particularly the womenfolk, collected money and ‘puja’ materials from the villagers as offerings for Goddess Harachandi in their bid to invoke divine intervention to protect them from the disease. A few women have also sought the help of the local sorcerers to cure their family members and relatives of the mosquito-borne disease.
On Wednesday, the women performed a ‘puja’ and poured milk and turmeric water over the idol and offered coconuts, bananas and flowers to appease the Goddess.Asmita Mohapatra, a villager, said her 14-year-old son is suffering from dengue and there has been no improvement in his condition. “I prayed to cure him of the disease”, she added. The village women, firm in their belief that some evil power is responsible for their misery, blamed the doctors for their failure to bring the situation under control.
Kunjkothi gram panchayat sarpanch Sandhya Swain said even as the Health department has intensified measures, including fogging, to prevent the spread of the disease, the situation has not improved. “The women have lost faith in medicines supplied by the Health department and have sought divine intervention to control the menace”, she said.
Chief District Medical Officer Ashok Kumar Patnaik said out of 117 villagers tested for dengue, 45 were found positive. He said two medical teams are stationed in the village and conducting awareness and health check-up camps.
