Mosquitoes Come To Haunt The Indian Capital

By M.Santhiran M.Santhiran, Bernama's correspondent in New Delhi shares his take on the Indian capital city and its unique social narrative. NEW DELHI, Sept 28 (Bernama) -- Up to a fortnight ago, the local media in the Indian capital were preoccupied with the political, social and economic rhetoric as usual, until the mosquitoes diverted their attention. Yes believe me or not it is the mosquitoes that make the headlines here these days as New Delhi has fallen victim to the dengue outbreak. The outbreak has revealed the many shortcomings in the Indian healthcare system in assisting the urban poor and the lackadaisical handling of the outbreak by the local authorities. According to health officials here so far 29 deaths have been recorded with more than 5,500 confirmed cases reported over a period of four weeks, the worst outbreak in the past five years. Both the print and electronic media highlighted on numerous suspected dengue patients who were given a run around from one hospital to another. They also aired visuals of hospitals, especially public hospitals, overcrowded with patients where at some hospitals patients had to sleep on the floor and corridors. Just three weeks ago I feared that I was down with dengue. After three days of blood screening, doctors confirmed it was a combination of viral fever and bacterial infection. However, my office assistant was not so lucky. He too had high fever and similar symptoms, and succumbed to the viral fever. I wrote an obituary piece on him two weeks back. As I had witnessed how my wife and son had suffered from dengue back home in Puchong some years ago, I literally suffer a phobia over mosquitoes. The same phobia forced me to skip my evening walks here for nearly three weeks and the parks that were usually teeming with people appear to be deserted for now. DENGUE AND POLITICS While the local media were critical of the Delhi state government's poor handling of the outbreak, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAM) that administers Delhi in turn blamed the union government led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for withholding allocation to fight the mosquito menace. The state government claimed it could not improve the drainage system and solid waste management, with both being neglected for years, which contributed to the outbreak. The lack of financial resources also contributed to the acute shortage of beds at public hospitals, forcing the state health authority to seek assistance of private hospitals in providing extra beds. A brief check at one of the biggest hospital here at All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) revealed that the suspected dengue patients had no choice but to sleep on the floor due to the shortage of beds. In worst case scenarios, patients were forced to take shelter on the pavement of the road leading to the hospitals. Though experts blamed the high number of dengue cases on the extended dry and hot weather, critics pointed to the absence of contingency plan in handling the crisis. Local authorities for the past few days have been showing some urgency but the local media kept hounding them for their rather slow and discriminatory response. Several TV stations even aired reports of fogging being carried out at selected residential and VVIP areas, while slums with high number of dengue cases reported were totally disregarded. HIGH DEMAND FOR GOAT AND DONKEY MILK However, not all news on dengue were bad news. Traditional medicine practitioners have taken advantage of the desperation and have been offering a host of panacea. Among them is the goat's milk for dengue patients, prompting the price of the milk to soar to unbelievable levels despite experts debunking claims that the milk could cure dengue. In most part of Delhi the milk that was sold at 25 to 50 rupees per litre (about US$0.37 to US$0.45), is now being sold as high as 750 rupees (about US$11.34) per liter. In some areas for past few days the price of the milk had gone up as high as 2,000 rupees (about RM120) per litre. Meanwhile, in the southern state of Telengana the donkeys are in the limelight as the locals believe its milk not only could cure dengue but a host of other ailments as well. It was reported that a donkey could fetch 30,000 rupees (US$30.25), much costlier than a cow. I recalled few years back when my neighbour suggested to me to get frog meat boiled with Chinese herbs at a nearby restaurant to improve platelet count for my son who was hospitalised for dengue. However, for the people of New Delhi, their saviour will be the arrival of winter mid next month where the mosquitoes will become less aggressive. (US$1 = 66.09 rupees) --BERNAMA