One more life snuffed out by dengue fever

Death toll in K-P reaches 7; total cases jump to 6,412

PESHAWAR:

Dengue continues to spread non-stop despite all the tall claims on the part of the provincial government as yet another man lost his life to the infection in K-P, bringing the total official death count to seven.

An official of the health department told The Express Tribune that 259 new cases have been reported in the past 24 hours, pushing up the total number of infections to 6,412.

On Saturday 175 cases were reported from Peshawar, 34 from Haripur, 21 from Khyber, eight from Abbotabad, five from Karak, four from Dir Lower, three from Nowshera, three from Chitral Upper, two from Chitral Lower, two from Mardan, and one each from Lakki Marwat and Bannu.

On the other hand the largest health facility of its kind in the province – Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) – has been without dengue test kits for the past several days despite the fact that the mosquito-borne disease has turned into an epidemic in the country. The flood-ravaged districts are especially among the worst hit from cholera, malaria, dengue and other ailments.

“Peshawar has been on stop of the dengue infections chart as there are 1,695 cases reported in the district out of 6,412 total cases province-wide,” he maintained, adding that 175 new cases were reported in a single day on Saturday.

Hospitals are overcrowded with the dengue patients and their number is increasing with each passing day.

“Despite the fact that the number of patients are increasing on a daily basis, LRH is not well equipped to deal with the emergency situation. Around 40 per cent patients are being sent to private laboratories for dengue test as kits are not available at LRH labs,” said another official, adding that private labs are charging Rs500-800 per test.

The provincial government claims that patients are treated under health card free of cost in all hospitals across the province but even the LRH emergency department has been without dengue test facility these days and patients are asked to consult private labs for it.

“One test kit could perform eight tests and these kits are easily available cheaply in the market but still LRH has been without dengue test facility in these testing times,” said a doctor on the condition of anonymity.

“Even the routine and profile tests are sent to private laboratories,” he said, adding that the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) provides the test facility free of cost but at Khyber-Teaching Hospital (KTH) Rs250 fee has been fixed for it. LRH on the other hand charges Rs650 per test and it has been without test facility for the past several days.

“In high risk districts, dengue cases are reported in large numbers and experts are warning of more and more cases in the coming days. Peshawar is one of the high risk districts,” he said.

Government should take notice of this situation. Furthermore the CT scan machine at LRH has also been out of order for the past several days. When contacted, LRH spokesperson told The Express Tribune that there were two more CT scan machines at the hospital. He said that the batteries of the machines have expired which will be changed soon.

On the other hand, Mayor Peshawar Haji Zubair Ali has said that the phase-wise fog sprays are being conducted across the city and the entire city will be properly covered.

He visited the city and inspected the spray campaign. He said that local chairmen were supervising the process and soon dengue will be brought under control in the district.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 26^th, 2022.