Bengal's Dengue Crisis: Has the Mamata Banerjee Government Buried Its Head In Sand?

Jadavpur village, Deganga: At first instance it looked like a village fair, hundreds of people gathered in an open space surrounded by miniature bamboo forests and water bodies. It took a closer look to realise the sombre mood of the gathering, with the sound of wails from men and women in the air.

The body of 47-year old Abdul Wahab Mondal has just been brought home and funeral preparations are ongoing. Abdul is the latest suspected victim of dengue in the otherwise quiet hamlet of Jadavpur in Deganga of North 24 Parganas district, some 50 km from Kolkata.

Battling high fever for four days, he breathed his last at Calcutta Medical College and Hospital although his death certificate never attributed dengue as the cause of his death.

Seven out of eight members of the Mondal family are in the grip of a fever and are showing dengue-like symptoms. Abdul’s eldest son Qutubuddin is already admitted at the state-run hospital in neighbouring Barasat battling fever and had taken release from the hospital to attend his father’s funeral.

Sitting outside the house with a dazed look in his eyes while neighbours paid their final respects to Abdul inside, Qutubuddin – a daily-wage earner – said, “None of us can attend work and hence there is no income. We couldn’t get our father treated on time because we couldn’t arrange for doctor’s fees. Where will the money come from if everyone falls ill?”

Almost every household at Jadavpur has a patient displaying symptoms of dengue. Villagers allege that about 20 people have died in the village alone in the past month.

“The situation at Deganga is such that we have no choice but to perish to this disease one by one. I have never seen such pestilence in my life. It’s spreading from one village to another. And we have no relief from the administration. Not even spraying of insecticides or bleaching powder,” said Sikandar Ali Mullick, an elderly relative of the Mondal family, sobbing bitterly.

West Bengal government’s official figures available till Thursday, 26 October – 40 deaths and a little over 20,000 people infected with this vector borne disease – are in sharp contrast with the figures available on ground.

“Till date the number of dengue deaths in Deganga block itself has crossed 150. More than 2500 people are infected in the past month, over 1500 of who have been infected in the past week alone,” said Lilu Mostari Khanam, President of Deganga Panchayat Samiti. Khanam is also recovering from dengue and most members of her board and their family members are suffering from the same plight.

It is Ironic that the government’s nodal health officer of the Deganga block, Dr Suraj Sinha, is himself recuperating from the disease.

“We are treating 1200-1400 patients at the outdoor unit of the Deganga rural hospital every day, a significant number of who are coming with fever,” the Block Medical Officer of Health (BMOH) said. He also admitted that the hospital is acutely short-staffed and lacks the necessary infrastructure to handle this kind of pressure.

A section of doctors with government hospitals are disgruntled at the way the state health department is handling the crisis. “There is no basis for the government figure. There have been at least 200-300 deaths due to fever. Have the remaining mortalities been examined properly? Has proper investigation been done? Then the government must spell out what is the cause of death of the residual people who have died due to fever,” said Dr Goutam Mukherji, President, Association of Health Services Doctors.

The association, along with six other organisations of doctors at state hospitals of Bengal have now called a convention to protest against the state’s high-handedness in treating dengue.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who also doubles up as the state health minister, has provided figures to claim that the state has done better in tackling the menace compared to most counterparts elsewhere in India.

“This year the number of people who died in vector-borne diseases in BJP and Left ruled states are much higher than us. In Maharashtra 685 people have died, Gujarat 434, Rajasthan 230 and in Kerala 111,” she claimed at a party meeting in Kolkata on Wednesday.

The unofficial figures are grossly inflated and deaths caused by multi-organ failures and cardiac arrests are being claimed as dengue deaths, she asserted, while claiming “political conspiracy” against her government behind such claims.

“More than 500 people have perished in Bengal on account of dengue this season. We are only asking the government to recognise the scale of the crisis so that appropriate preventive steps can be taken,” BJP leader Chandra Kr Bose said. “We are ready to cooperate with the government if the chief minister so desires,” he added.

Based on reports published in two leading Bengali dailies from Kolkata, a non-government body, Young Bengal, claims that 92 people have succumbed to dengue between 7 September and 25 October, 2017 in six south Bengal districts itself. “It is evident that the state is trying to fudge figures to ensure that the number remains less compared to other states and is pressurising doctors to not mention dengue as cause of deaths in death certificates of victims,” said Prosenjit Bose, co-convenor of the body.

Bose’s claims did not seem far-fetched when cross-checked with the ground reality. Family members of suspected dengue patients at Deganga, the epicentre of the outbreak, were mostly reluctant to divulge the blood reports where NS1 Antigen (Elisa) were found positive.

Uncle of a 33-year old patient who was being removed to a government hospital after his platelet count alarming depleted, requested anonymity on grounds that “he may face problems at the hospital and the family could attract unwanted adverse attention from local party leaders” if his identity was disclosed.

There were also allegations of administrative apathy. Residents at Deganga were found collecting donations from households to buy pesticides and bleaching powder to tackle the mosquito menace. “The government sprayed insecticide for only one day in our area after we had put up a road block following the death of two young people in our locality from dengue. After that it’s back to square one. Now we are collecting money from our own pockets and arranging for the preventive measures on our own,” said Pabitra Sen, a local resident, while taking a break from his bi-weekly chore of spraying mosquito repellents.

Elsewhere, villagers alleged that corrupt panchayat members were sprinkling atta bought at subsidised rates of two rupees a kilo from PDS outlets instead of bleaching powder which is prices at 80-100 rupees a kilo at the market.

Experts feel that living in denial would only make matters worse for the Bengal government and only a proper recognition of the menace can enable it to effectively tackle the disease and create infrastructure for its prevention. For now, though, it seems to have buried its head in sand. And for the political opposition to Mamata Banerjee, it’s an issue handed over in a platter in the run up to the upcoming panchayat polls in the state.