Private hospitals’ dengue death claims questioned
BBMP health department doubts authenticity of the information
The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) health department is on a collision course with private hospitals for spreading ‘misinformation’ about the three deaths, which have been attributed to dengue. The department has questioned the authenticity of the information coming out of private hospitals.
The BBMP has resented the panic created by private hospitals in the City with their Chikungunya and Dengue updates, in particular. It has contended that none of the recent news reports on the death of Abhishek, Sohan Ganesh and Sagayamma, which cited Dengue as a cause are authentic.
According to the BBMP, this information did not come from ‘official channels’ but was given by the private hospitals without authenticating it with the National Institute of Virology (NIV).
“We will not say that three people have died of Dengue unless it is proved by the National Institute of Virology (NIV). NIV is the only establishment to confirm whether a person is suffering from a particular viral disease,” said the Chief Health Officer of BBMP Dr L T Gayathri.
According to relatives of Sagayamma, who died on Sunday at Wockhardt, doctors’ reports had clearly put the death down to Dengue. However, the hospital management insists that the cause of death cannot be pinpointed to Dengue yet.
Speaking to Deccan Herald, Dr Lloyd Nazareth, the CEO of Wockhardt Hospitals said, “As of now, it is not a Dengue death. We are maintaining that it is a case of viral pneumonia.”
A doctor at another private hospital said that they were going by the symptoms and treating it as Dengue but the confirmation will come only after the NIV report is ready. According to experts, the conditions to get recognition from the NIV are very strict and most hospitals are not able to conform with it.
Meanwhile, the BBMP has also questioned the authenticity of a recent claim by a reputed private hospital that it is treating more than 50 Dengue patients. The hospital put out this after conducting tests in its laboratory. But the BBMP health department is insisting on NIV certificate.
According to Dr Gayathri’s claims, no fresh cases of Dengue or Chikungunya have surfaced since August 13. “From August 1 to August 13 we had 450 and 86 cases of Chikungunya and Dengue respectively. This week we did not have any Dengue or Chikungunya cases,” said the chief health officer of the BBMP.
Special drive
Even as there is a heightened sense of panic in the City due to the prevalence of multiple epidemic, the BBMP launched a special drive on Monday to combat Dengue and Chikungunya.
The BBMP’s health department has started a door-to-door campaign to spread awareness on Chikungunya and Dengue. It has also formed ‘Breeding Source Reduction’ (BSR) teams in association with residents associations and other organisations. As part of the drive, the Chief Health Officer of the BBMP, Dr L T Gayathri visited some hospitals and interacted with patients. The patients were given information about the precaution to be taken to contain vector-born and viral diseases.
