Dengue outbreak hits 5 Manipur districts, claims one cop at Moreh
POLITICS
Imphal: Amid the unceasing public unrest gripping Manipur, outbreak of dengue has hit five districts of the state, even as one India Reserve Battalion (IRB) personnel posted at the border town of Moreh in Tengnoupal district succumbed to the vector-borne disease on Monday.
Belonging to the 5BN of the force, the jawan, S Bungcha had suffered high fever and tested for dengue after his blood sample was sent to the laboratory, official sources said.
As Moreh witnessed large scale destruction of houses and properties by Kuki miscreants, the government has utilized helicopters for transporting medicine from Imphal to the border town and cop patients vice versa.
State malaria officer of Manipur health directorate, Sanasam Gopal told this reporter on Thursday that till date Bishnupur district has detected 90 dengue cases, Imphal East (17), Thoubal (12) and Bishnupur (11).
Though his office is yet to receive official figure of the disease detected from Tengnoupal district, there are reports of cases at Moreh and one police personnel deployed there dying of the disease.
To combat the spread of the disease, various measures like larvae detection campaign, fogging, collection of blood samples from patients for testing and spreading awareness on the disease among the people are underway in all affected districts, he added.
On the other hand, chief medical officer (CMO) of Tengnoupal district Touthang said that so far 21 dengue cases have been detected at the border town out of which 17 have been discharged.
The remaining four are undergoing treatment at Moreh hospital, he said while pointing out the hardships faced by his office in fighting the outbreak.
“Only today, medicines have been airlifted to Moreh from Imphal. Earlier, since the decease broke out at Moreh on August 2, we had faced difficulties in treating the patients,” he said.
Superintendent of police (Railway and in-charge of special commando Unit) , Th Krishnatombi , who is currently putting up at Moreh, said that eight personnel, who have certain symptoms of dengue, have been airlifted to Imphal for confirmatory testing and subsequent treatment.
Moreh, the focal point of India’s ambitious “Act East Policy” has witnessed torching of houses and shops belonging to Meitei community since violence broke out in the state on May 3.
Nearly 5000 Meities living at the border town were forced to leave their native homes and take refuge at different relief camps in Thoubal, Kakching , Imphal East and Imphal West districts.