Karnataka   

They voted despite suffering from excruciating joint pain and fever

— Photo: SUDIPTO MONDAL

No stopping: Patients suspected to be suffering from chikungunya at the Primary Health Centre in Kadaba.

SULLIA/PUTTUR: Hundreds of people suffered excruciating joint pains and fever to cast their vote in the Chikungunya-affected twin taluks of Sullia and Puttur on Friday. The mosquito-borne disease has reached epidemic proportions in these two taluks. Government health officials who did not want to be quoted said that nearly 40 per cent of the population here might be affected from the ailment.

In Kadaba, a village where an average of 450 symptomatic cases are being reported daily, nearly half the voters had turned out by noon. Awomma (80) a Chikungunya patient, collapsed minutes after she cast her vote at a booth in Kodimbala village. Luckily for her, there is a private hospital right outside the polling booth; she was administered intravenous fluids.

At 12.30 p.m. the hospital where Awomma was admitted was bursting at the seams with suspected Chikungunya patients. There were nearly 50 people in the hospital when this correspondent visited it. Doctor in-charge of the hospital C.K. Shastri told The Hindu that he has been getting over 130 suspected cases a day.

A random survey revealed that over 30 of them had already voted. Most of the remaining people told The Hindu that they were going to vote after they received their medicines. Dr. Shastri however expressed dismay over not being able to vote. “Who will look after these patients?” he asked woefully.

The situation was worse in the Kadaba Primary Health Centre where Administrative Officer Trimurthy is himself suffering from the disease. By 1 p.m., the centre had already been visited by over 300 people suspected to be suffering from chikungunya. Dozens of patients showed the indelible ink mark on their forefingers.

The same story repeated itself in successive voting booths in the villages of Panja, Katta, Aivathoklu, Guthigaru Kayambadi of Sullia taluk and Kottrupadi, Kodimbala, Aiathoor of Puttur taluk.

The disease has not even spared the security forces. In Aivathoklu, a police constable removed his boots to reveal swollen ankles. Seethamma (80), another confirmed Chikungniya patient, who cast her vote in Aivathoklu put it thus: “I had cast my vote in the first elections held in the country. In those first few elections, polling day was like a festival. We wore new clothes and cooked special meals. A lot of that fervour has now gone. But for me it is still a festival and I will celebrate it even if I am ill or dying.”

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