Looking into the matter: Authorities probe death of dengue patient

A detailed report will be submitted to the Punjab CM

RAWALPINDI: Doctors of the Punjab Healthcare Commission visited the Holy Family Hospital (HFH) on Tuesday and gathered information about the treatment given to an 18-year-old girl who died of dengue on the second day of Eid-ul-Azha.

A team of three doctors, headed by Dr Mushtaq Sulehri, gathered details over the death of Noreen who was brought from Hassanabdal in Attock.

The doctors obtained details about the treatment of the dengue victim and tried to determine the circumstances surrounding her death, senior doctors told The Express Tribune.

The healthcare commission team will submit their detailed report to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. Noreen was reportedly the first patient to die of dengue in Rawalpindi in 2016. On the other hand, HFH doctors confirmed 10 more patients suffering from the potentially fatal virus.

Doctors sent blood samples to the National Institute of Health and got confirmed reports about 10 patients.

Two of the confirmed patients came from Rawalpindi city, one from Attock, six from Islamabad, and one from Azad Kashmir. The toll of confirmed dengue patients so far in 2016 has reached 226, revealed a doctor at HFH. According to the practitioner, 142 dengue patients had been reported at HFH, 68 at Benazir Bhutto Hospital and 16 at the District Headquarter Hospital. In 2015, over 1,700 confirmed patients were reported in the Rawalpindi region.

Reportedly, 11 of them died of the disease last year. Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Punjab Chief Minister’s Adviser on Health, Khawaja Salman Rafique, visited dengue wards at HFH and BBH. He also visited Taxila and Wah Cantonment.

Addressing officials of the district government and cantonment board, the adviser said there was a need for awareness among people. He said Sharif was bent upon eradicating dengue from the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21^st, 2016.