KARACHI: More facilities pledged for dengue patients
By Mukhtar Alam
KARACHI, Oct 22: Sindh Health Minister Syed Sardar Ahmed has said that government is taking all measures to control the spread of dengue fever and reduce the level of panic among people by providing them with adequate facilities and creating awareness of the disease and its treatment.
Talking to Dawn on Sunday, he said the blood test of dengue patients would now become free of cost for a patient admitted to a hospital as 50 per cent of the charges was already being borne by the city government and remaining cost would now be borne by the provincial government. The blood test for the diagnosis of the viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF), including dengue, costs Rs600.
The minister’s remarks came amid reports of more people having contracted the VHD leading the four-month tally of the outbreak to swell to 1,267 on Sunday.
Talking about the dengue fever and the panic over the outbreak across the city, he said that although the situation was under control, it was being examined by the provincial health department from all aspects.
The dengue virus has emerged as a post-monsoon phenomenon in Southeast Asia and the countries like Pakistan, Indonesia and India are in its grip this year.
Sardar Ahmed stressed the need for maintaining a high level of hygienic and sanitation conditions in the city, and observed that there were certain factors that had been hindering the measures being taken to curb the outbreak effectively.
In this context, he said that the tankers supplying water to different areas, like Landhi and Korangi, could also be blamed as their operators were not ensuring the plugging of leakage from the tankers during the transportation and delivery process. The leakage, he indicated, would leave water spread on roads and streets ultimately providing mosquitoes an ideal breeding grounds.
The minister said that efforts were being made to educate the masses about the reasons and causes of dengue infliction, besides the steps for its prevention and cure.
The residents of posh areas are not only living in good hygienic conditions but are also enlightened on the issue of dengue. As such, they are relatively in a safe position than those living in slums and the localities housing the low-income group people, who were yet to be convinced for keeping their home and surrounding clean and free of water pooling.
Clarifying a press report, he said that the data about patients of dengue-related diseases could not be released for a couple of days to the media due to some technical reasons.
“The data is now being received as usual and I have asked the focal person on dengue fever, Dr Abdul Majid, to prepare consolidated reports which would be passed on to the media and all the concerned on a daily basis,” he added.
Meanwhile, Dr Abdul Majid, who is also Additional Secretary Health, has said that during the past 24 hours ending at 2pm Sunday, another 28 patients were admitted to various city hospitals with a history of bleeding, high-grade fever and other symptoms linked to the dengue fever.
The data comprised the information from eight government and private hospitals, he said, adding that 38 of the patients admitted earlier had since been discharged after successful treatment.
A maximum of 12 new patients were brought to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, while four to Dr Ziauddin Hospital, three each to the National Institute of Child Health, Civil Hospital and AKUH, and one each to the Bismillah Taqi Hospital, and Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.
At present, 40 patients are under treatment at the JPMC, 36 at the Ziauddin Hospital, 29 at the LNH, and seven each at the NICH and the CHK, Dr Majid added.
