Dengue cases in Howrah increased from 94 last week to 115 this week, according to district health sources. This rise has been attributed to alleged poor coordination between the district health department and the health wing of the Howrah Municipal Corporation.
He said this may have contributed to a rise in cases in some pockets, though infections remained below last year’s level. He said he would discuss the allegations with Kundu and other HMC health officials. District magistrate P Deeppappriya said HMC and zilla parishad had been told to follow government guidelines and she would examine why problems persisted.
Howrah CMOH Kishalay Dutta expressed dissatisfaction with HMC health department OSD Ashutosh Kundu, alleging the civic body had not fully complied with directives issued from Swasthya Bhavan through the district health department. Residents alleged some HMC clinics lacked testing kits and medicines and were not testing every fever patient. Clinic staff claimed Kundu had asked them to conserve kits and test only patients with high fever, which could conceal the actual infection count. Dutta denied any shortage of kits or medicines, saying Swasthya Bhavan was supplying them as needed. Kundu could not be reached. A senior HMC health official denied the allegations as false and motivated, saying the department was following government guidelines. However, the official admitted staff shortages, poor work by VBD and VCM workers, deficient data collection in some areas and irregular larvicide spraying. HMC plans to use drones to spray larvicide in high-incidence areas.
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