the goan I network
PANAJI
A day after the death of 24-year-old Yash Salgaonkar from Tonca sent shock waves in the capital city on Sunday, the State health ministry swung into an overdrive and constituted an inter-departmental committee of bureaucrats to co-ordinate the State-level effort to stem the spread of the dreaded dengue.
Health Minister Vishwajit Rane announced the formation of the inter-departmental committee with top-level bureaucrats to help tackle the dengue menace at a press conference on Monday evening.
Acknowledging the death of Salgaonkar after the outrage on social media, and expressing that his sympathies are with the Salgaonkar family, Rane however, said that the cause of death did not lay solely on dengue.
“I’ve spoken to Dr Oscar who told me that there were other complications that arose which led to Yash’s death. His blood sugar levels were around 520. It’s not a happy situation to lose a 24-year-old, but he had other complications as well,” Rane said.
As reported in The Goan on Monday, Salgaonkar’s blood platelet count had also dropped to 70,000 which is linked to symptoms of dengue, and he eventually died of a massive cardiac arrest.
“In a small State like Goa, when we lose someone like Yash Salgaonkar, I do understand it sends shock waves when (the death) is linked to dengue. People get ...thoughts, but we are going to be very strict,” Rane said.
After his Department drew flak on social media, Rane, in addition to writing to him said he would be meeting Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant late on Monday night.
“I will be meeting the CM to see that there is an inter-department committee appointed along with Secretary Health, Secretary Panchayat and Secretary Urban Development. A co-ordinated effort is required. The Health Department does fogging, but local bodies also have a responsibility,” he said.
Rane added that from now onwards, the Health Department would be tracking every person who recovers from dengue. Of the four deaths that occurred from dengue this year, one in Panaji and three in Vasco, Rane said that three were the result of complications that arose from dengue, and only one was “purely from dengue.”
In September 2019, while there have been 391 cases of suspected dengue, only 76 of these have been confirmed, Rane said. So far the State has witnessed 217 confirmed dengue cases from January to September 2019, but 1,468 cases had been suspected for the same time period.
