Varanasi village reels under dengue, hospital unprepared

Delhi is not the only place grappling with an increasing number of dengue cases. In Varanasi, around 50 patients from Kotwa village were reportedly admitted with symptoms of dengue at the Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Government Hospital​, in a single day.

The hospital that has only one dengue ward with just 12 beds, is struggling to accommodate the number of patients. Chief Medical Officer of the district hospital RN Singh told iamin that the hospital wasn't prepared to deal with a large number of patients at once. "We have arranged 45 more beds. Mosquito nets have been ordered that will arrive soon," Singh told iamin.

Mukhtar Ahmed a patient in the hospital talked about the mosquito menace in their village while Fatima, mother of a dengue patient from the same village, told iamin that 15 of her family members are being treated for dengue in different hospitals.

Meanwhile, the conditions at the Pandit Deen Dayal Hospital were not found to be too ideal to treat dengue patients. Toilets built on the third floor of the hospital are in a messy condition and mosquitos could be seen buzzing around. The iamin reporter also found mosquitoes in the dengue ward. On bringing this to the CMO's attention, the ward was carelessly sprayed, without evacuating the patients, increasing the health risk further. 

Out of the 14,000 people living in Kotwa village, around 6500 have reportedly complained of suffering from symptoms of dengue and malaria.

This report was originally published here. For more hyperlocal stories visit iamin.in.