Dengue fever has risen, like a viral illness, at rapid velocity and has come to threaten the Indian subcontinent. It turned into a cause of huge expenditure toward healthcare, reduced workforce, and social disturbances, more prevalent in the urban centres resulting from the consequent surge of dengue cases. This paper tries to explore how dengue fever is infecting the Indian economy and society at large, and the consequent remedial actions to counteract its impact.
The financial outlay associated with dengue in India is multi-dimensional. On the treatment front, direct costs associated with hospitalisation, medication, and laboratory tests are very strong. These can be crippling, more so for low-income groups or families in which one member has fallen victim to the infection. In the case of dengue, this hospitalisation can run into thousands of rupees, which many families could afford only through loans or by selling their assets. A study reported that, in India, the mean estimates for the treatment of a hospitalised patient for dengue are about ₹61,000, which is a high expenditure incurred in many households.
The indirect costs, the incremental effect of which adds more economic distress. Treatment usually requires patients to be bedridden for most of the weeks that the dengue illness persists, hence loss of working days directly results in a loss of income. Especially hard hit are people who depend on earning through daily wages to look after their families. The loss in productivity does not just affect the individual but rather generally affects the economy. Second, outbreaks can override the writ of whole communities with regard to business, schools, and other public services as the scope widens.
The social impact of dengue, too, is no less serious. Every outbreak of dengue continues to overstretch the health system of India. Of course, with an increased number of serious dengue cases during the peak season, it results in the overstretching of hospitals and clinics in most thickly populated towns and cities. Obviously, it leads to overcrowding, diverts resources away from other pressing healthcare needs, and further fuels the public health crisis.
Moreover, the dreaded fear and anxiety with dengue outbreaks at times even disrupts social–relationship causes. Thus, communities that are characterised by below-par public-health conditions and proper sanitation have a very high perception of risk. These conditions go on to further escalate panic due to a lack of awareness about the disease and some forms of misinformation.
Systemic investment in public health infrastructure, access to affordable quality health care services, and other intervention arrangements for appropriate vector control shall offset the otherwise possible economic and social impacts of the diseases. Public sensitization and education campaigns that target communities to sensitise them to take preventive measures to destroy mosquito breeding grounds are also to be carried out. The control of the long-term burden of disease through investments in research and development of vaccines and treatments for it will be an additional benefit.
Dengue is not a deadly disease in comparison to its other counterpart diseases. However, it has further embedded its impact on India's economy and its social life. Now, a strong and managed response from the health sector is a demand of society and policymakers.
