After losing wife to dengue, man takes on mosquitoes

Jeetendra Lodha has dedicated himself to spreading awareness about dengue. The diamond trader lost his wife Rekha to the disease in September, after BMC officials allegedly ignored several warnings to eliminate mosquito breeding grounds in their locality.
Lodha led an awareness rally in Borivli yesterday to pay tribute to Rekha, whose birthday was on October 11. Around 100 people from the surrounding areas participated. Several women and girls from the Terapanth Mahila Mandal participated in the rally to spread awareness about dengue and malaria. “My wife is no more and I cannot do anything to bring her back. So, to pay a tribute to her, I arranged a rally along with the Mahila Mandal to spread awareness about the disease,” said Lodha.
Rekha was admitted to the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital on September 6 with symptoms of dengue. But, she succumbed to the virus on September 12 after it affected her brain and vital organs. She and Jeetendra have a son, who is in college and a daughter who is in Std IX. Before Rekha contracted the disease, BMC officials were told about the mosquito breeding grounds in the locality, however, they allegedly did not do anything to remove them.

Passing the buck
“I don’t want anyone to die like my wife did due to bureaucratic apathy. We have to take the responsibility on our shoulders. BMC keeps passing the buck. There is a huge breeding ground near a building in Yogi Nagar but they aren’t doing anything about it. So, through rallies, we want to spread awareness among people,” said Lodha. After the rally, he has also met with BMC officials to discuss more measures to spread awareness and remove mosquito breeding grounds in Yogi Nagar.

BMC says
When mid-day reached out to BMC’s Insecticide Officer Rajan Naringrekar, he said that like every year during the monsoon, they had conducted an inspection of the breeding grounds in the area. “We have done our part by spreading awareness among people. It is false claim that we are not doing anything. We have also sent notices to buildings in the areas where such grounds have been found,” he said.
102
Confirmed dengue cases in Mumbai till Oct 12
1,813
Probable dengue cases in Mumbai till Oct 12

NGO, hospital give baby new lease of life

Eight-month-old Kavya Shinde, who has been suffering from a serious cardiac ailment, will finally get a new lease of life as a hospital and an NGO joined hands to arrange the money for her surgery and further treatment.
Vision Child Foundation has collected `2 lakh for Kavya’s surgery while Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital will pay another Rs 2 lakh required for her treatment. She will be admitted at the hospital on Monday for the surgery.
The infant is suffering from a congenital heart disease, a birth defect that affects the normal functioning of the heart. According to the doctors, she needs to undergo an urgent open-heart surgery followed by intracardiac repair that helps in increasing blood flow to the heart. If not operated upon immediately, Kavya may not survive much longer, the doctors said.

‘Rise in temperature will affect male fertility’

The rising temperatures in the city caused by climate change will have a majorimpact on men as with the increase in temperature, their fertility decreases,claimed medical experts.

“The temperature of Mumbai is comparatively better than other western regional states. But the fluctuation in temperature is a concern. If there is a long span of days when the temperature is above 27 degree Celsius, then it affects the fertility in men as the sperm count drops,” said Dr Suchitra Pandit, gynecologist and obstetrician, Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital. Addressing the concern, Dr Hetal Parekh, consultant fertility physician, from Hiranandani Hospital said, “We have seen that in winter months, men are more fertile than in summer months due to the difference in temperature. So, if winters also become warmer, the fertility in men will be adversely affected thus resulting in low reproduction rate.”