Vadodara: Thirty-three Border Security Force (BSF) jawans were admitted to hospitals in Narmada district with dengue and two were shifted to SSG Hospital in Vadodara in grave condition.The jawans are part of the paramilitary forces deployed at Statue of Unity (SoU) ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit. Modi will arrive in Narmada on Friday for Rashtriya Ekta Diwas celebrations at Ekta Nagar, marking the 151st birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.More than 6,700 paramilitary personnel will be deployed. “The affected BSF jawans are part of the troops deployed in Narmada. They did not contract the infection locally. The jawans, who arrived from different states, were already infected with dengue when they reached here,” said Janak Kumar Madhak, chief district health officer (CDHO), Narmada.The jawans began arriving in batches in Ekta Nagar from Oct 20 and reported fever a day after their arrival. “Dengue symptoms generally appear four to 10 days after a mosquito bite. So, they must have been infected before arriving in Narmada,” Madhak told TOI. He said there was no dengue outbreak in the district, which had recorded only seven cases in the past few months.Thirty-one jawans have been admitted to the sub-district hospital in Ekta Nagar. “They will remain admitted for the next five days. We have advised all of them against participating in the parade,” Madhak said, adding that more dengue cases were expected in the coming days.All the jawans are staying in tents erected in Ekta Nagar. The district administration stepped up preventive measures to avert an outbreak ahead of the celebrations.“We are carrying out fogging across the district, especially in Ekta Nagar. More than 65 medical teams have also been deployed to ensure prompt intervention,” Madhak said. Around 2,500 police personnel will also be stationed at the SoU, while more than 5,000 members of various cultural groups will participate in the celebrations.The district health department set up special wards to handle any medical emergency during the celebrations. “We have arranged a 75-bed ward at the Ekta Nagar sub-district hospital, a 30-bed ward at GMERS Rajpipla, a 20-bed ward at the Boria primary health centre and a 25-bed ward at Garudeshwar hospital,” Madhak said.
