KOLKATA: As suspected encephalitis cases keep rising in North Bengal, a death resulting from a mysterious fever has been reported from Mullickbazar in Kolkata, sparking panic in the localities off Park Circus. The teenager, a resident of Bandarpatti near Mullickbazar, was running a high temperature. He was taken to National Medical College Hospital on Monday night, but his family members were reportedly reluctant to admit him, which the doctors had suggested. They took the 17-year-old back home, where his condition deteriorated within hours and he died on Tuesday. However, the exact cause of death could not be known as the youth hardly gave any time for diagnosis, said a medical officer of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) health department who was entrusted with gathering information on the ?mystery fever death. The medical officer in charge of KMCs ward 61 confirmed that the youth was not taken to any of the KMC clinics located in the area. Under instructions from the KMC health top brass, a rapid action team (RAT) visited the area and took preventive measures like spraying insecticides and searching for mosquito breeding grounds in the locality. The KMC health department has also sounded a red alert in some areas where construction activities are going on in full swing. A recent report released by the department, based on a survey across 144 wards in the city, said the civic RAT force had found a whopping 44,211 open masonry tanks across the city. All of them are potential breeding grounds for malaria or dengue mosquitoes. That is not all. The RAT force led by the KMC chief entomologist Debasis Biswas found 12,403 wells, 17,460 open-surface drains, 4,704 uncovered water tanks, 5,202 slum clusters and 3,802 under-construction buildings, all of which could pose a threat to public health, being potential mosquito breeding grounds. Atin Ghosh, the mayor-in-council member overseeing health, is particularly worried about the construction sites. After a data bank of the citys potential mosquito breeding grounds was prepared and presented to me by the health department officials, I was taken aback by the fact that these construction sites pose so much threat to us, Ghosh said. The MMiC said notices have been sent to realtors engaged in construction of multi-storied buildings, asking them not to allow clear, stagnant water to stand anywhere in the construction sites. Ghosh said if the realtors fail to comply with the civic diktat, the KMC could deny them a completion certificate. We may have to take punitive action against realtors who flout our diktat. We have to get tough to save the city from an outbreak of malaria or dengue, he added. However, Ghosh assured that the malaria or dengue situation was under control and there was no need to press the panic button. We have prepared a data bank based on information we gathered from across the city. Though there have been no reports of malaria or dengue cases so far, we need to take guard against potential mosquito breeding grounds, said Debasish Biswas, the KMC chief entomologist.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 08:32:40 +0000