JOIN USState still to streamline procedures
The latest to die, albeit a victim of suspected dengue, was Sidhant Scindia, a 14-year-old resident of Koramangala, who passed away at the Sagar Hospital on Sunday. However, Sidhant’s blood samples came positive for dengue, when the hospital performed the test.
"We conduct a rapid test to confirm dengue fever at our laboratory. As per this test, the boy tested positive for dengue," said the hospital’s medical director Dr Mohan Reddy.
He said that the hospital does not send any samples to government designated laboratories - National Institute of Virology (NIV) and Public Health Institute (PHI) - and they have not received any instruction from BBMP or the health department about sending the samples to these designated labs.
Other hospitals
Baptist Hospital has received more than 100 patients with dengue like symptoms between June and July. Dr Girish from the Medicine Department said that as per the antigen detection tests, over 25 cases have tested positive for dengue. "As per the instructions from the Health Department, we have started to send blood samples to NIV since the last two weeks and have so far sent 15 samples. But the results are yet to come," he said.
Even Dr Shankar Prasad, medical superintendent, St Philomena's Hospital, said that they had sent the samples to NIV three weeks back and they had not received any results. "We too conduct Elisa test in our hospital lab and we have had more than 25 positive cases. On an average, we receive 5-6 patients with dengue like symptoms," he said.
He added that it is not just dengue, but there is a sudden spurt in the number of H1N1 Influenza cases too. The hospital had confirmed 20 positive cases in the past two weeks and also had reported a death due to the deadly flu.
The situation is not much different even at St Martha’s Hospital. The hospital has received over 130 positive dengue cases in the last two months. A doctor at the hospital said that they first conduct dengue rapid test kits and only when its positive, they perform MAC-Elisa test to double check the results. "Although, we conduct the Elisa test, we send all the positive samples to NIV lab. We get the results within a week," he said.
Meanwhile, the hospital has received six positive cases of H1N1 Influenza and expects to see more cases.
Fever cases declining, says CM
As many as eight people died of dengue in the State since last year. The Chief Minister, who held a review meeting with Health Department officials, said that the number of dengue cases is declining from 1,784 last year to 1,005 this year. Chikungunya cases too have reduced from 3,231 last year to 528 detected so far this year.
When the CM’s attention was drawn towards the inadequate measures taken by the government to contain dengue, he said he is not relying fully on the statistics and the measures taken by the health officials. He appealed to the media to play a proactive role in dealing with this disease. He has also asked the district in charge ministers and MLAs to inspect their respective areas. The CM has also asked the Chief Secretary to hold video conferencing with the deputy commissioners to contain vector borne diseases.