There is a blame game on dengue at the cost of the health of patients. While the patients blame the state government for its indifferent attitude towards them, the government in turn is passing the buck to private medical practitioners.

The fact of the matter is that the government is simply not bothered to review the situation on dengue, although even the common man knows that the disease is reaching dangerous proportions in the state. Case of dengue are on the rise and ministers are busy trying to save their skins, while officials are apathetic. The net result is that patients have no one to turn to except private medical facilities many of which are ill-equipped to handle dengue patients because of the related complications.

As many as 1,256 cases were reported in Vizag city alone, while thousands of other cases were reported from many other parts of the state.
People in the thousands, especially children, are showing symptoms of dengue like high fever, cough, fatigue and body pain. Hospitals in the district have seen a sharp rise in the number of patients getting admitted with symptoms of dengue in recent days. The casualties reported were so sudden that platelet counts of patients dropped within two days after their complaining of fever. No medicine was available and even if they had access to medical fecilities they could not afford them.

The doctor-patient ratio is woefully inadequate in government hospitals and the equipment is either not functioning or not available to poor patients. The common man is left to his own plight. He cannot go to a private hospital because he cannot afford the cost of the treatment and government are completely indifferent in offering medical assistance. He finds himself trapped between the devil and deep sea.
So far there has been little effort on behalf of the government to control the spread of the dengue and to put in place necessary preventive measures. It appears as if the government is running on an auto-pilot mode with most ministers focusing only on their survival.

-Siva@sakshipost