In dengue-struck New Town, drive 12km for health check-up

KOLKATA: It was a dream come true for Ujwal Saraf when he moved into his sprawling apartment in Elita Garden Vista in New Town’s Action Area III, which he had bought for more than Rs 50 lakhs in 2015. But his dream turned short-lived as he got a rude shock earlier this month, when his 8-year-old daughter suffered high fever. With no general hospital or nursing home in the vicinity, Saraf had to rush her to Charnock Hospital in Teghoria, a 12-km drive, where blood test revealed she was suffering from dengue.Saraf had to make several trips to the hospital thereafter for periodic reviews till his daughter recovered fully.
The dengue outbreak has exposed the absence of even rudimentary healthcare facilities New Town for common ailments. The fledgling township has speciality hospitals but there are hardly any nursing homes, general hospitals and clinics to tend to diseases like dengue, food poisoning or even a bone fracture. Several residents staying in swanky highrises on the city’s eastern suburbs have narrated their harrowing personal accounts to TOI, laying bare the absence of even a general hospital where residents can go for blood tests for dengue.
Saman Waris, who stays in a Sukhobrishti in New Town with her elder sister, had a nightmarish experience when she had dengue few weeks ago. “The fever was so high that I fainted. There is no nursing home or a private clinic where my sister could take me. She had to wait till morning to take me to a hospital on EM Bypass,” said Waris, who studies in a college off Park Street.
The guardians of civic health in Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation said that the administrative was proactive in dealing with the dengue menace. “We are conducting medical camps wherever it is required. Several hospitals outside New Town are conducting tests for dengue and we are trying to provide the reports within 24 hours so that precious time for treatment is not lost,” said Pranay Roy, mayor-in-council member.
But Netai Naskar, a private schoolteacher and resident of New Town, does not agree. He had to seek services of a private diagnostic centre who sent their representative to his residence to draw blood since he was down with acute fever. “It was expensive but I had no other option because I could not even lift my head up. I have another blood test scheduled soon for which I will go to Action Area I (adjoining Salt Lake). I am still very weak but there is no option near my residence,” said Naskar.
Arindam Biswas, a private doctor on Rajarhat Main Road (on the VIP Road side), said the layout of the township and the healthcare facilities concentrated in clusters around Baguiati, Kestopur and EM Bypass were not in sync. “It is a sprawling township but the facilities are concentrated on the fringes. So if somebody stays in the heart of New Town, it is difficult for them to access these facilities,” explained Biswas.