Nagla Aman (Firozabad), Uttar Pradesh
Nagla Aman is where it all began. The non-descript village of about 800 inhabitants in Firozabad district, Uttar Pradesh is the epicentre of the relentless fever, believed to be dengue outbreak, that has claimed lives across the state. But that has changed nothing as the village is still shrouded in filth.
The first case of the ‘fever’, initially termed as a ‘mystery fever’ and later confirmed as a dengue outbreak, was reported at Nagla Aman on August 18, exactly two months ago. At least sixteen people have died from it since then, say the villagers. The victims were aged between three months and 58 years of age.
No household in Nagla Aman, about 300 kilometres west of Lucknow, the state capital, is untouched by fever. In almost every home the charpoys were out and children and grown ups alike lay on them, sickly.
Reports of fever outbreaks have come from some other districts of Uttar Pradesh too including Agra and Mathura.
“A total of 63 people have died due to the fever in Firozabad. At present, there are 82,609 fever patients and 136, 817 recovered patients in the district,” Dinesh Kumar Premi, chief medical officer of Firozabad, told Gaon Connection on October 12.
A fever of despair
“Everyone is sick here. And hungry too. There is no money to even feed the sick kids,” Ram Sanehi, an inhabitant of Nagla Aman, told Gaon Connection on September 23. He drove away flies every now and then from his 10-year-old grandson who lay on a cot, with a glucose drip attached to his arm.
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“No one from the administration has even asked us about our troubles. Some officials came, did the rounds once and left. Even if they gave us two kilos of wheat, we would be grateful as we could feed our children,” the grandfather said, clearly distressed.
Six children in Ram Sanehi’s family were sick and they were at their wits’ end as the platelet count of the children kept falling and they had to keep rushing off to the trauma centre at the Firozabad district hospital, 12 kilometres away. “There was no one to even feed the cattle,” he said.
Not too far away from Ram Sanehi’s home, 11-year-old Deepak lay on a cot, outside his home, also with a glucose drip attached to his arm. “I have had dengue fever for the last four days. It keeps coming and going. I feel hot and cold in turn,” Deepak told Gaon Connection. A doctor has been visiting the village from Shikohabad administering the drips, Deepak said.
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“We have spent a lakh on treatment from the private doctor,” Pappu, Deepak’s father, told Gaon Connection. “It is money we had to borrow from relatives. We have pawned a few pieces of jewellery that were at home,” the 42-year-old added. There are 10 people in Papu’s family and he said seven of them had been ill on and off for the past 20 days.
A quagmire of troubles
In the neighbouring village of Bharatpura, not more than two to three kilometres away, things are no different. On one hand there are official warnings galore to ensure there is no stagnant water anywhere in order to prevent the vector borne diseases, on the other the area surrounding the primary school in Bharatpura looks like a dirty lake. Inside the school the water has stagnated, villagers there said.
“Neither the children nor the teachers can enter the school. Mosquitoes buzz over the stagnant water and the walls are covered in moss,” Nirmala Devi, who lives opposite the school, told Gaon Connection.
Also Read: Firozabad echoes with the wails of grieving mothers whose children succumbed to a mystery fever
Bharatpura has about 850 inhabitants and, like it is in Nagla Aman, every house in the village has sick people.
Nearly three hundred people in the village are sick, and so far eight have lost their lives, informed the villagers. And people are doing the rounds of the private hospitals in Agra, Hathras and Firozabad, inhabitants said.
Buried under debt
According to villagers, they had lost all trust in the government hospital and prefered selling off whatever little land or possessions they had to save the lives of their loved ones in private hospitals.
Also Read: Rural families in Agra incur debts to pay private hospitals to treat their kids for dengue and fever
“We are spending nearly a lakh of rupees per sick person. I have mortgaged my land with the sahukar and taken money from him, in order to pay the medical bills. Eight members of my family are sick,” said Nirmala Devi. She also added that they had little to eat and no money to buy food or vegetables. “Most of us work in bangle factories and earn about three hundred and fifty rupees a day,” she said.
The situation is grim, more so for families where more than two or three members are fighting dengue.
“My son, Pankaj, is admitted at the Apex Hospital in Agra. He had a fever for eight days and was bleeding from his nose and mouth,” Anita Devi from Bharatpura told Gaon Connection. While her 20-year-old son was fighting for his life in Agra, another son was admitted to a hospital in Hathras. “I have spent more than three and a half lakh rupees already,” she cried.
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