'Hotbed of germs', dengue clinic faces mob anger

KOLKATA: Residents of Picnic Garden's Kustia on Thursday ransacked the civic health centre at 38, Sreedhar Roy Road, alleging the clinic had turned into a breeding ground for mosquitoes. They also claimed the doctors there were not testing patients for dengue even when they came for check-ups with high fever. A visit by TOI revealed that the area had indeed become a breeding ground of germs. Dengue has engulfed large parts of Picnic Garden and locals said there was at least one suffering from high fever in every household.

“There is fear among people because so many cases of fever have never been reported from this neighbourhood.But when we go to the clinic, the doctors don't test for dengue. This is resulting in valuable time being lost,“ said Mohammad Sarfaraz, a resident of Pal Bazar.

The bad odour from the stagnant water in the open drains just outside the sprawling health centre hits one from several meters away. A heap of medical waste has be en dumped on the premises and an adjoining verandah of the building that caters to the biggest municipal ward in the city is filled up with discarded tyres and furniture.

“The open drain of the health centre is the biggest source of mosquitoes in the locality,“ said a resident of Swastik Apartments, which is located right opposite the health centre.

“The health centre is violating all rules. Just step inside and take a walk. From open drains to stagnant water to dumping of medical waste, the place is fertile for mosquitoes to breed. We have repeatedly requested the authorities to clean up the place but to no avail,“ said another resident of Swastik Apartment.

“Normally people feel safe and reassured if they have a health centre in the neighbourhood. But in this case we are scared,“ said Christine Sarkar, another local. Ward 66, where the health centre is situated, has a population of over 2 lakh. Lack of infrastructure has been the principal deterrent to the civic body's battle against the winged menace, a civic official conceded.

“At every dengue detection centre we have a skeleton manpower comprising a doctor, a lab technician and a pathologist.A section of these staffers are themselves falling sick and we have to replace them with others hired from malaria clinics,“ a senior KMC official said.

Medical officers, pathologists and laboratory technicians working at other KMC dengue detection centres are now scared of public outrage in the wake of Thursday's vandalism. A section of medical officers and technicians in areas with rising dengue cases have also sought protection from health department seniors.