KARACHI, Oct 19: Continued arrival of patients in large numbers with Viral Hemorrhagic Fever, including dengue, at various public and private health care units in the city suggests that the VHF/dengue has made inroads into almost all localities of the city.
Samples of such patients’ blood being tested at various laboratories have confirmed another 31 cases dengue-positive, while the average of fresh admissions per day shows a 40 per cent increase.
On Thursday, 56 patients were admitted to different hospitals while the number of patients with suspected VHF reporting at certain hospitals crossed the mark of 1,000. Since June 2006, as many as 1,062 patients have been admitted to 10 government and private hospitals in the city, the official data updated at 2pm on Thursday indicated.
Of the 167 in-house patients, 23 are under treatment at the Aga Khan University Hospital while the same number of patients was admitted to this hospital alone on Thursday. The Liaquat National Hospital has 11 patients, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre has seven, Dr Ziauddin Hospital has six, and the Civil Hospital Karachi and the Baqai Hospital have three patients each.
In all, 78 patients, including 28 who were admitted to the LNH, were discharged on Thursday.
On the other hand, the data shows an increase by 11.39 per cent in the cases found dengue-positive. Till Wednesday, their number stood at 272. The tally of dengue positive patients swelled to 303 on Thursday, which was 28.53 per cent of the total suspected VHF cases. Six patients were found dengue-positive at the JPMC while another five at the Ziauddin Hospital, three at the Aga Khan University Hospital and five at the National Institute of Child Health.
According to Dr Abdul Majid, the focal person for the Dengue Fever Cell, in addition to Karachi cases, three persons with dengue fever symptoms died in the interior of Sindh during the last couple of days.
The patients reporting at hospitals for dengue treatment came from Saddar, Quaidabad, Bahadurabad, Gulistan-i-Jauhar, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Nazimabad, Orangi, Federal B Area, Clifton, Defence, Korangi, Baldia, North Karachi, North Nazimabad, Malir, New Karachi, Manghopir, Landhi, Shah Faisal Colony, University Road, Garden East, PECHS, Liaquatabad, Zamzama, etc.
EDO Education, Karachi, has said that the fumigation by the city government in schools across the city had been completed by its health department. It had been carried out in all primary and secondary schools of the 18 towns, she said, adding that reports in this regard had also been sent to the authorities concerned. However, residents of various areas said they were yet to see any fumigation on a massive scale.
