RAWALPINDI: A 30-year-old woman who died in the garrison city two days ago was wrongly diagnosed as a dengue patient by a private laboratory.

Sonia, a resident of Ratta Amral, was suffering from fever with symptoms common to dengue patients. Two days ago, she was brought to the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital along with a private pathological laboratory report showing her as a dengue patient.

When her condition deteriorated, the patient was shifted to the Holy Family Hospital (HFH). However, she died before reaching.

When contacted, HFH medical superintendent Raja Shafique said the patient had already died when she was brought to the hospital’s emergency department.

“She was not suffering from the dengue virus but the private hospital laboratory had declared her to be a dengue patient.” he said.

DHQ hospital medical superintendent Dr Khalid Randhawa told Dawn that the patient was brought to the hospital with a ‘shock syndrome’ (unconscious) with the report from a private pathological laboratory. He said when her condition worsened the patient was shifted to the HFH which is better equipped than the DHQ hospital.

“The report of the samples that had been collected for dengue serology at the DHO hospital was received at 10am on Friday.”

He said the report confirmed that the woman was not suffering from dengue virus but some other viral infection.

When asked about the treatment, Dr Randhawa said the emergency treatment for a ‘shock syndrome’ and dengue shock syndrome was the same under the standard operating procedure (SOP).

Meanwhile, a patient died at the HFH dengue ward but the medical superintendent said Mohammad Yaqoob was not a dengue patient.

He said a number of patients with symptoms of the dengue fever had to undergo a pathological examination for the dengue virus. However, once their reports are received, they are separated from the dengue patients and treated accordingly.

During the last two months, five people died of the dengue virus in three government hospitals: HFH, DHQ and Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH). According to a report by the Rawalpindi Medical College (RMC), three patients died at the HFH and one each at BBH and DHQ Hospital.

This season, 1,290 confirmed dengue patients have been treated at the three hospitals. Twenty-four of them were suffering from dengue shock syndrome. A total of 12,315 suspected cases arrived at the three hospitals.

Published in Dawn, October 10th , 2015

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