Dengue cases breach 500-mark, 49 patients admitted in city hospitals

Ludhiana: With the number of dengue cases in Ludhiana crossing 500, the district has the highest number of such patients in hospitals in the ongoing season, which started in August. Health officials said they had made necessary arrangements to take care of dengue patients who required hospitalisation.
A health department report said that the number of confirmed dengue cases in Ludhiana in the ongoing season till Monday was 531 and 49 patients were admitted in hospitals of the district. This is the highest number till date in the ongoing season.

Data of dengue patients’ admissions in both private and government hospitals of the district in recent months suggested that no patients had been admitted in hospitals in Ludhiana on September 8, 13 were admitted by September 28 and 15 by September 30. On October 1, there were 15 patients in hospitals, the number increased to 20 by October 7. On October 20, it was 31 and on October 29, it was 46. On October 31, there were 43 patients in hospitals.
Things improved on November 1, with just 16 patients in hospitals but the number increased to 39 by November 5 before rising to 49 on November 7. Meanwhile, the recent report suggests that of the 49 patients admitted in various hospitals of the district, majority (46) were admitted in private hospitals while just three opted for government facilities.
Civil surgeon Dr Hatinder Kaur said that they have adequate number of beds for such patients in hospitals. She added that they had earmarked 95 beds for dengue patients in government hospitals, including 10 in civil hospitals and the remaining in community health centres (CHCs) and sub- divisional hospitals.
As per health department data, eight dengue cases were reported in the district on August 4, which increased to 21 by August 26, 38 by September 8 and 77 by September 17. On October 1, there were 125 dengue cases in Ludhiana, which increased to 211 by October 15, 385 on October 31 and 531 by November 7.
The dengue report of November 7 said that of the dengue cases reported in Ludhiana district, most of the cases were from urban areas. Among the urban areas, maximum cases (353) were reported from Ludhiana city and 47 from Khanna. Among rural areas of the district, 33 cases were reported from Sahnewal, 30 from Manupur and 20 from Koom Kalan.
Data of the past several years also showed rise and fall in dengue cases in Ludhiana district.
While the number of dengue cases was 1,876 in 2015, it dropped to 489 in 2018 but in 2019, there was a sharp increase in cases to 1,509. In 2020, 1,355 dengue cases were reported. In 2021, the number of dengue cases was 1,829.
The civil surgeon said they were carrying out surveillance activities to check dengue and other vector-borne diseases and teams were destroying mosquito larvae wherever they were found.
Health experts also advised people to exercise caution. “As dengue cases are being reported and patients are getting admitted in hospitals, people need to take precautions. They should not allow water to stagnate in containers, especially coolers, tyres and others. They should wear full-sleeved clothes to prevent getting bitten by mosquitoes,” said Ludhiana IMA president Dr Bimal Kanish. He added that authorities concerned should get fogging done frequently to check the disease.