ENARADA, Bengaluru, September 9, 2015
There was a time when we could see papaya plants without fruits. However, things seems to be changing so fast that we can see papaya plants and even fruits but not papaya leaves!
The demand for papaya leaves is so much that almost all the papaya plants are going bald in the city.
This is a grim pointer to Bengalureans’ health as increase in papaya leaf usage is directly proportional to the increase in Dengue cases.
The IT capital of India is fast turning out to be ‘Dengue capital of India’ with 625 positive cases reported in the first half of 2015. However, hospital sources told Enarada.com that the number of dengue cases were much higher (in fact, it could be two to three times more than the official reports) and causing numerable deaths. In fact, dengue, a viral disease is affecting a vast number of people in more than 125 countries and is responsible for a sizable number of deaths.
As dengue patients suffer from severe loss of blood platelet count, most of the hospitals are turning away patients saying they literally have no beds. In the absence of an effective antiviral drug to treat the disease, papaya leaves can result in increase of blood platelets and recovery in a short time. According to N Sarala and SS Paknikar, in an article published in National Center for Biotechnology, “Studies have indicated that the juice of the leaves of the Carica papaya plant from the family Caricaceae could help to increase the platelet levels in Dengue patients.”
With many papaya leaves going bald in Bengaluru, there is a scourge among patients to find papaya leaves.
Purushottam(55), a house keeping personnel at a mall in Malleshwaram told Enarada.com that his son Anil Kumar (13) was battling dengue in a private hospital and was desperately in need of papaya leaves. However, he was disappointed as he couldn’t find papaya leaves anywhere. Finally, he was told that the leaves were available at Rural Development Minister HK Patil’s house. So, he headed to the minister’s house. [dropcap style=”inverted”]Finally, he was told that the leaves were available at Rural Development Minister HK Patil’s house. So, he headed to the minister’s house.[/dropcap] As the security was taken aback with the strange request, he wasn’t given instant access. However, when the security realised the urgency, he could lay his hands on the leaves.
Purushottam is relieved as he could finally find papaya leaves at minister’s residence. Photo: www.enarada.com
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