Dengue alarm: Centre asks Bengal to organise blood donation camps

Kolkata, Sep 30 (IANS) Amid the alarming dengue situation in West Bengal, the Union Health Ministry has advised the state government to organise large-scale blood donation camps to have a sufficient stock of platelets.

In its advisory, the Union Ministry also advised the state government to keep the infrastructure, including adequate hospital beds, ready to control any emerging situation.

Reacting to the advisory, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Mayor Firhad Hakim said that the awareness level in West Bengal is much higher than any other Indian states.

“On an average, the number of blood-donation camps organised in our state is much higher than the other states."

Meanwhile, confusion prevails over the total dengue deaths as the state health department has not released any related data despite fatalities being reported on an almost daily basis.

However, unofficial estimates claim the death toll to be at least 48, while the Leader of the Opposition in Assembly Suvendu Adhikari has claimed to have specific data that the casualty figure has crossed 100.

Confusion has increased further as the central website has no data from West Bengal and the column concerned at the website of the National Centre for Vector Borne Disease Control shows the figures (NCVBDC) says NR (not reported).

In Kolkata, the total number of affected people stands at 4,779.