KARACHI: Centre yet to help curb dengue as 2 more die
By Mukhtar Alam
KARACHI, Nov 8: Mosquito-transmitted diseases continue to haunt Karachiites as two more patients succumbed to dengue fever amid arrival of 83 affected persons to 14 city hospitals on Wednesday.
According to the dengue fever cell of the Sindh health department, two latest fatalities increased the death toll of suspected VHF or dengue fever patients to 31 in Karachi.
The overall number of deaths till 2 pm on Wednesday evening remained 35.
According to Dr Shakeel A Malik of the DFC, a pregnant woman who proved to be dengue positive, died at Dr Ziauddin Hospital, Keamari, at 2pm on Wednesday, while another death was reported by Aga Khan University Hospital. Shireen, 79, a resident of Gulshan-i-Iqbal, died on Nov 6, which was reported to the cell on Wednesday, added Dr Malik.
He stated that the number of suspected viral hemorrhagic fever cases reported to various city hospitals rose to 2,972, including 1,158 dengue positive cases. As any as 83 patients suspected of suffering VHF were discharged from 16 city hospitals, he added.
With latest reports of deaths, the percentage of death rate of VHF or dengue fever cases at AKU came to 1.89, at ZU 0.93, at Liaquat National 0.94, at JPMC 2.29 and at National Institute of Child Health 3.06.
Despite claims by the governments that the dengue virus issue was being addressed on top priority, hospitals in Karachi continue to receive new case. On average, 90 new cases were reported daily at various city hospitals during the week, said experts, urging the health authorities to review its measures as things were still beyond all predictions and calculations.
The patients position at different hospitals remained as follows on Wednesday: Aga Khan Hospital-27 (four new cases), Liaquat National Hospital-27 (seven new cases), Civil Hospital Karachi-13 (five new cases), Dr Ziauddin Hospital-39 (12 new cases), JPMC-37 (11 new cases), Bismillah Taqee-8 (three new cases), Abbasi Shaheed Hospital-26 (10 new cases), National Institute of Child Health-12 (three new cases), Patel General Hospital-seven (two new cases), Darul Shifa Hopsital-20 (10 new cases), Chiniot Hospital-14 (seven new cases), Karachi Adventist Hospital-15 (four new cases), Darul Sehat Hospital-7 (four new cases), Kutiyana Memon Hospital-11 (one new case).
The number of viral hemorrhagic fever/dengue induced deaths during the past five months in the province remained as follows: AKU-10, LNH-seven, CHK-one, ZU-three, JPMC-seven, NICH-three, LUHS Hyderabad-three and Umer Kot Hospital-one.
Meanwhile, an AKU press release said on Wednesday that a total of 528 patients with ages ranging between six to 82 years were admitted to the hospital since June 14, out of which 11 patients, including one CCF case, expired due to severity of the disease, while 490 recovered and were discharged.
In all, 247 patients have been diagnosed positive for dengue hemorrhagic fever, three patients suffered from crimean-congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF).
According to sources in the city government’s health department, people continued to report to various cost-free blood testing services of the CDGK on Wednesday as well.
The federal government had announced recently that it had already supplied medically treated bed-nets to Sindh, but to his dismay, nets are still awaited at the city government level, he added.
In the meantime, the Sindh health department has planned a workshop on “DF, DHF and VHF and their management” for EDOs and medical superintendents of government and private hospitals reporting to the health department and town health officers of Karachi on Nov 11 at DUHS auditorium at 11am.
