Amidst Dengue alert in Dhanpur, first death reported in Tripura, cases rising 

Amidst outbreak of Dengue in bordering Dhanpur area of Sepahijala district has claimed first Dengue related death in Tripura.

Sources said that the outbreak of a mosquito-borne viral disease was reported about fortnight ago in the Dhanpur area and now the numbers of Dengue positive patients have already been crossed above 170.

The first dengue deceased person was identified as Subhash Sarkar (72) of Shankamura village of Dhanpur breathed his last in a private hospital at Agartala on Tuesday midnight.

Sources added that after Subhash Sarkar complaint of high-fever with body aches was admitted to Sonamura Community Health Centre (CHC) and found positive with Dengue. After his condition deteriorated, Sarkar was referred to Tripura Medical College (TMC) in Hapania. Later, his family persons seeing the poor condition of health services in TMC, where majority of the senior doctors remained absent on weekdays due to their rampant private practices, alleged deceased man’s son and  the septuagenarian Sarkar was shifted to private ILS Hospital in very critical condition and on Tuesday midnight he breathed his last.

Official sources said that the cases of Dengue in the Sonamura sub-division now reached above 170 on Wednesday and many patients admitted in hospitals of Sonamura were already referred to GB Hospital .

Sources also said that the state administration, specially the Health department has departed health teams in the subdivision and considering the present alarming situation , a high level meeting of top administrative officials and elected representatives of the subdivision was held at Sonamura CHC on Wednesday to adopt measures to contain the outbreak.

 The authorities have also taken many measures to stop the outbreak and deported health teams in remote areas. The administration has also initiated awareness campaigns, intensified cleanliness drives, and conducted fogging operations in high-risk areas.

Earlier, the Health Department has set up a testing facility at the Srimantapur border land port as dengue has infected scores of people in Dhanpur area of Sepahijala district.

Sepahijala District Magistrate Dr. Vishal Kumar earlier said that cleaning and preventive measures were initiated in Dhanpur involving various departments. Residents are also being alerted and advised continuously through the public address system about the contagious disease.

Everyday a medical team is visiting affected villages and providing assistance to suspected dengue patients. Tests of blood samples collected from those complaining of fever are also conducted at the Agartala Government Medical College (AGMC) for final confirmation.

He said a testing facility has been set up at the Srimantapur immigration check post in the Sepahijala district mainly to check Bangladeshi travellers. Dozens have reportedly died of the ailment and hundreds hospitalized in Bangladesh. District officials have identified six villages in Dhanpur Assembly constituency as dengue-infected.