SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Sept 12: The health department has swung into action after three dengue cases were found in Dhanbad and Dumka districts.
Dhanbad Civil Surgeon (CS) Dr CP Pratapan said that 13 samples of suspected malaria patients were tested at the lab of Shahid Nirmal Mahto Medical College Hospital (SNMMCH) in which three cases, one of Dhanbad and two of Dumka district, were found dengue positive.
The case of Dhanbad was found in Mallahpatti of Lodna area under Jharia circle while the father and son of Dumka Sriram Para are the two other cases.
Dhanbad district malaria officer Dr Sunil Kumar Sinha and consultant Ramesh Kumar Singh said that the Dumka district malaria officer (DMO) was duly informed about the cases on Monday evening.
Both the patients of Dumka had come to SNMMCH as referred cases. But on request of the DMO and the district consultant their elisa test was conducted and their reports came back dengue positive.
At the Dhanbad medical college, samples from four districts, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Giridih and Jamtara are tested.
Dhanbad health department officials said that a special drive is in progress to check the menace. In this regard on Monday, 46 slides of suspected malaria patients were collected and tested at the medical college lab but not a single dengue case was found.
“We have been launching the campaign since July 1 when four primitive tribe Birhor members were found dengue positive. All were migratory cases as three had come from Goa and one from Ranchi. However, we held special three camps in the Chalkai village of Birhor ( around 50 km away from district headquarters) and controlled the situation. Even the then Civil Surgeon Dr Alok Vishwakarma visited several times during the camp,” said Ramesh Singh, district consultant.
