PESHAWAR: Another patient died of dengue virus in Peshawar on Wednesday while 312 more people tested positive in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, taking the total number of infected patients to 3,931, the provincial Health Department said.
With the latest casualty, the death toll caused by the mosquito-borne disease has reached 13 in KP. A 45-year-old woman, Dil Niaz, became the latest victim of the virus. She belonged to Sufaid Dheri village located in suburbs of Peshawar. She was stated to be suffering from dengue. She was suffering fever and tested positive at the Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) a few days ago and was admitted there.
She expired early Wednesday at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the tertiary hospital. The hospital has been under tremendous burden of patients affected by the dengue outbreak in its vicinities, including Tehkal, Sufaid Dheri, Palosai and Pishtakhara. The Dengue Response (DRU) reported 312 more positive cases on Wednesday in the province.
It said 1,693 patients with fever and symptoms close to dengue were taken to various public and private hospitals in KP where all the patients went under free investigations in the state-run health centres, but only 312 of them were diagnosed with dengue. A senior government official at the Health Department told The News majority of the patients with fever come to the hospitals in panic due to dengue outbreak.
He said most of them didn’t need investigation but at their insistence, the doctors and hospital authorities advised them investigations at the hospitals. “Around 312 positive cases of the 1,693 is not a big number, but since people are being taken to hospitals in panic due to dengue epidemic, therefore each and very patient wants to be admitted and thoroughly investigated,” said the official.
Of the total 312 infected people, only 118 preferred to stay in hospital as the remaining agreed to continue their medications at home. As usual, the KTH again received the majority of patients taken with fever and symptoms close to dengue virus.
As per the DRU report, 962 patients were taken to the KTH and all of them were tested on their insistence, and only 144 were tested dengue positive. However, 64 of them were admitted to the hospital. KTH is presently providing services to 250 indoor dengue patients.
After KTH, the patients’ flow increased in LRH, where 327 patients were brought and all were provided free services includingadmission, investigations and medications, but only 63 were found suffering from the mosquito-borne illness. Of the 63 infected patients, only 12 preferred to stay in the hospital.
The Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) in Peshawar also started receiving more dengue patients. It received 55 patients on Wednesday; all of them were tested and all were diagnosed with dengue positive. However, only nine were admitted in the hospital. The virus has spread to some districts of KP and Mansehra reporting 14 positive cases emerged one of the most affected districts of the province after Peshawar.
King Abdullah Teaching Hospital in Mansehra received 46 patients and all were tested but only 14 were diagnosed with virus positive.
After Mansehra, Buner district became the second district appeared with 7 positive cases after testing 46 patients, followed by Mardan where the Mardan Medical Complex (MMC) reported 6 new cases. The hospital received 135 patients and were tested free of cost.
Other districts such as Nowshera, Abbottabad, Kohat and Swabi also reported positive cases on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the KP Health Department issued strict warning against what it called “non-professional and non-serious approach to the health emergency (dengue) and non-compliance to government directions.
It said Health Minister Shahram Khan and Secretary Health Abid Majeed during their recent visits to the Mardan Medical Complex (MMC), noted that no such arrangements were made in the hospital, although an isolation ward was in place.
It said directions were issued to the medical director and hospital director but the health minister again visited MMC on Wednesday and noted that neither was any separate counter for dengue patients nor was the focal person or duty deputy medical superintendent (DMS) present and casualty medical officers (CMOs) were carrying out the routine duty.
They gave a 24 hour notice to the MMC administration to ensure one window operation, set up separate counters and failure to adhere to which will force the government to take any and all action against the hospital management.
