Gandhinagar, Oct 2 (IANS) At least 24 personnel who have come to Gujarat for preparations for the ‘Rashtriya Ekta Diwas’ (National Unity Day) parade have tested positive for dengue at the Gandhinagar Civil Hospital in the past two days, while several others remain under observation after developing fever and body ache, a senior hospital official said on Friday.
Gandhinagar Civil Hospital’s Resident Medical Officer (RMO) Vipula Pandya told IANS that around 34 personnel were admitted on Thursday, of whom 23 tested positive for dengue.
Five more were admitted on Friday up to around 5 p.m., with one testing positive and four others being treated as suspected cases pending reports.
“Yesterday there were 34 people who came in. Of them, 23 were positive, and the rest were suspected,” Pandya said, adding that the five patients admitted on Friday included one positive case and four suspected cases.
She said around 10 patients had been discharged by Friday afternoon and the remaining patients were stable, with several expected to be discharged over the next one or two days.
“Everyone is stable, and there are no complications as of now,” Pandya added.
The patients, mostly aged between 25 and 30, have reported symptoms including fever and body ache. Pandya said there were no reports of any serious condition among those admitted.
According to the RMO, the personnel have come from different states and include people from Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Kerala and Bihar.
They are among the personnel who have arrived in Gujarat for the preparations for the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas parade at Ekta Nagar on October 31.
Pandya said the large number of people had been accommodated together at a hostel in Gandhinagar. “Everyone is staying in the same hostel,” she said, explaining that several thousand people had arrived and accommodation had been arranged for them together.
She, however, did not establish the hostel as the source of the infections. Pandya said the hospital had informed the state and district-level epidemic/public-health teams after a large number of patients arrived together, and that the epidemiological assessment would have to be carried out by those teams.
“The epidemic doctors will carry out all those investigations. We doctors are only concerned with the treatment… we look after the patients here,” she said.
The hospital is continuing to monitor admissions. Pandya said the emergency unit had also been checked and there had not been a similar increase in indoor admissions at the time of the assessment.
The development comes as Gandhinagar is hosting thousands of personnel for preparations for the Rashtriya Ekta Diwas celebrations at Ekta Nagar.
Officials say the parade will feature around 10,000 police and paramilitary personnel, along with cultural performances and other contingents.
State health authorities had also reviewed the state’s vector-borne disease situation in late September.
According to officials, more than 1.35 lakh suspected dengue serum samples had been tested through diagnostic centres attached to 42 hospitals, with 2,099 positive cases recorded in 2026 up to that review.
The Rashtriya Ekta Diwas celebrations will be held at Ekta Nagar on October 30 and 31, with the main parade scheduled for October 31.
Officials added that the parade is planned to include police and paramilitary contingents, cultural troupes, bands, an Indian Air Force flypast and an address by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
–IANS
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