On Tuesday, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) called on the Telangana government to declare a health emergency amid a sharp rise in dengue fever cases across the state over the past week.
Although the official health bulletin has not reported any deaths from dengue fever to date, BRS working president KT Rama Rao (KTR) cited field reports from various local media sources, which indicated five deaths on Saturday and three more on Monday. “Who is concealing the data and why? It is time for the government to acknowledge the severity of the situation and declare a health emergency,” he asserted.
According to a health bulletin issued by the Director of Public Health and Family Welfare on Monday evening, there was an increase of 724 dengue cases between August 21 and August 25. The total number of dengue cases in the state had reached 5,372 as of August 25, up from 4,648 on August 21.
The bulletin revealed that out of 81,932 samples tested since January 1 of this year, 5,372 were positive, resulting in a positivity rate of 6.5%. Hyderabad recorded the highest number of cases with 1,852, followed by Suryapet (471), Medchal Malkajgiri (426), Khammam (375), Nalgonda (315), Nizamabad (286), Rangareddy (232), Jagtial (185), Sangareddy (160), and Warangal (110).
KTR expressed grave concern about the rising number of dengue cases, stating that the government needs to take urgent action and declare a health emergency. He noted that government hospitals are experiencing a shortage of medicines, and patients are often forced to share beds due to the surge in cases.
In addition to dengue, the bulletin reported 152 cases of Chikungunya this season as of Sunday. Hyderabad had the highest number of cases with 61, followed by Mahabubnagar with 19 and Wanaparthy with 17.
Regarding malaria, there have been 191 cases reported out of 2,319,283 samples tested statewide.
The bulletin also noted that there are 42 T-Hub labs with adequate testing facilities and 53 blood banks with sufficient blood units. It emphasized that there is no shortage of medicines for seasonal diseases at any health center.
