KARACHI, Nov 24: The strike being observed by the house officers at the Civil Hospital continued on the fourth consecutive day, Thursday, in protest against inadequate arrangements for occupational safety.
About 450 house officers, working for the CHK, went on a strike after the death of Dr Yusra Afaq from haemorrhagic fever on Sunday. The house officers have been asking the authorities concerned to provide them adequate facility and precautionary apparatus, including gloves and masks. They said that they would not resume their duty until the precautionary measures against the viral fever were taken and an isolated ward for such patients was established.
Talking to Dawn on Thursday, Dr Kaleem Butt, Medical Superintendent of the CHK, said that since various demands of the house officers had already been met and necessary facilities were being provided to them, there existed no ethical and moral reasons for them to ignore patients.
He said that in the absence of these officers, available resident and chief medical officers were performing duty beyond their duty timings. The patients admitted to the hospital and in the OPD were being attended with some delays.
About some objections to establishing an isolation ward in the Burns Ward, he said that the ward would be shifted to some other place at a later stage. At present, there was no patient of viral infection in the CHK and, as such, house officers should not make the isolation ward an issue and they should call off the strike in the larger interest of patients.
Meanwhile, the medical officer in the AKUH has said that Dr Yusra Afaq did not die of Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever.
Assistant Professor Medicines and Consultant Infectious Diseases of the hospital Dr Mohammad Aslam Khan told Dawn on Thursday that tests of Dr Yusra for Congo and Dengue virus were carried out twice in the laboratory of the hospital and both turned out to be negative.
Family members of Dr Yusra, including her sister-in-law Mrs Almas Shehzad, dispelled the impression ‘deliberately created by the authorities of health department’ that Dr Yusra had contracted the viral infection while in Malaysia. Mrs Shehzad referred to Dr Yusra’s passport which showed that the doctor had travelled to Malaysia on August 13 and returned home on August 25. She said Dr Yusra fell ill more than a month after her return. Mrs Shehzad insisted that Dr Yusra contracted the viral infection at the Civil Hospital.
According to the AKUH, 41 patients – 24 male and 15 female – with viral haemorrhagic fever were admitted to the hospital from October 2 to November 23. Of them, 25 have been discharged so far. Condition of five other patients has improved and they may be discharged by Friday. One patient each came from Jacobabad and Larkana, two from Balochistan and three from Hyderabad, whereas 34 others are the residents of Karachi.
Dr Aslam Khan said that the list would be modified as some of the patients, taken to the hospital, did not bleed from mouth and nose, but most of the patients were taken with the history of bleeding. “We don’t take those patients in the category of haemorrhagic fever who do not bleed,” he added.
He said that the tests were carried out of Dr Zia, who died some two months back, and Dr Yusra of the Civil Hospital. The tests turned out to be negative. For the past three months, only one patient from Balochistan was taken suffering from Congo virus. He improved and went back. Six or seven patients were found suffering from Dengue virus and the remaining ones were either suffering from Congo or Dengue. “We are considering sending blood samples of such patients abroad to ascertain the kind of disease,” he said.
Earlier, the AKUH had sent some samples to England and the results matched the reports of the AKUH, which showed that the tests being carried out in the hospital’s lab were reliable, he added.
Dr Aslam said that a new kind of virus might be infecting people but the common exposure in these patients was mosquito bite. He asked the authorities concerned and the people to attach importance to cleanliness in the city as mosquitoes were the carrier of Dengue virus.
He said that Congo virus was contagious and Dengue virus was not contagious disease. However, extreme precautions should be exercised by the medical and paramedic staff. The carriers of Congo virus were ticks on animals, including cattle. The disease could be transmitted to any person through the contact to secretion of blood, vomiting, stool, urine, or saliva of a patient suffering from Congo virus. However, Dengue virus is carried by mosquitoes and the disease could not be transmitted until a mosquito, which bites a person, is the carrier.
A 14-year-old boy was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre on Wednesday afternoon through a private hospital with the history of fever and bleeding from mouth and nose.
Deputy Director of the JPMC Dr Seemi Jamali said: “I will call it a suspected case of viral haemorrhagic fever.” The boy was taken to the JPMC emergency from a private hospital with a history of four-five day fever, bleeding from mouth, nose, and stool. His initial tests showed his platelets count very low, with haemoglobin and white blood corpuscle also being low. The symptoms of the patients did not indicate with certainty that he was suffering from viral haemorrhagic fever. It could be Congo or Dengue virus or it might be lymphoblastic leukaemia, she added.
She said that the patient was shifted to a medical ward and kept in isolation keeping in view his disease. His further tests were performed. She said that the hospitals or clinics, sending patients with history of fever and bleeding from mouth and nose, should inform the recipient hospitals so that precautionary measures could be taken and patients could be taken care of accordingly.
Dr Jamali said: “We don’t want to get panicked, but we have to accept the reality as two doctors and some other people died of some kind of haemorrhagic fever. The situation can be called serious and all precautionary measures should be exercised.”
She said that she had also exercised all precautionary measures and given anti-viral medicines to her staff who dealt with the case of the suspected haemorrhagic fever.
