Team Herald

VASCO: The Parish Priest of St Andrew’s Church Vasco, Fr Gabriel Coutinho, has been hit by dengue fever for the last two days, and has been admitted to a private hospital in Vaddem Vasco.

According to information, Fr Coutinho was suffering from fever since August 14 and visited Vaddem-based physician, Dr Pedro Bravo D’Costa. 

“I first checked Fr Coutinho’s blood samples for malaria and the next day as his platelet count was less than normal, I decided to do a dengue test and found the blood samples dengue positive. He is presently normal and is undergoing treatment at a private hospital besides my clinic,” Costa told Herald.

Raising serious concerns over the increasing number of dengue cases in Vasco, Costa claimed he is upset with the preventive measures Health Department has been taking to curb dengue. “I feel the Health Department officials need to pull up their socks and intensify their drive against dengue. I have been getting patients suffering from dengue fever on a regular basis and I always ask them whether any Health Department officials have visited their area, and the reply is always negative. I feel no one, including MMC or the health officials, are interested,” Costa said.

He added, “Just besides my house we have an open area which is full of weeds but no one takes any care and we have to clean the open area for our safety as even my grandson was infected with dengue last year.”