Mumbai:
Even though civic officials are shying away from acknowledging chikungunya as a major problem, an east-Indian village in Andheri (E) has turned into the land of the living dead, where more residents limp than walk because of curious symptoms that they are attributing to a chikungunya breakout.
Over the past two months, several residents of Gundavli have been suffering from fever, swollen feet and joint pain symptoms associated with the condition but insist that the local ward office is doing nothing about it.
Moreover, with no prescribed drugs for the cure, doctors are providing only symptomatic treatment, which gives only temporary relief. Ironically, the local ward office is located in Gundavli.
Raja Patwardhan, a resident, who has been suffering from bouts of fever followed by joint pain, said that in an independent study conducted by him in six buildings in the area, he had found 30 confirmed cases of chikungunya.
"However, when we presented these findings to BMC officials, they said that they only had records of 40 to 50 cases for the entire ward.
How is this possible?" said Patwardhan. Ward officer for K-east, Shankar War, said, "I can only comment after I've analysed the statistics.
The BMC admitted that there were at least 22 positive cases of chinkungunya in the city. Additional Municipal Commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar said, "We have planned to start testing centres in the eastern and western suburbs. But the situation is under control right now as the cases are scattered."