Dengue diagnosis: ‘Train family physicians too’

LGH completes training session for doctors, nurses and paramedics.

LAHORE:

Family physicians are usually the first doctors to come into contact with dengue fever patients so they need to be trained to detect and treat the disease, said speakers at a Family Physicians Association seminar at Alhamra on Tuesday.

Dr Tariq Mian, the president of the association, said most people, when they felt ill, visited their family physician first. Therefore, family physicians were more likely to be able to catch dengue fever in its early stage.

He said though many had learnt how to diagnose and treat the disease, the government should organise workshops to train family physicians to ensure that they were all on the same page and were aware of the latest treatments.



“Family physicians played a very important role during the dengue epidemic in 2011 and since then have themselves acquired the skills to differentiate common fever from dengue fever. They have also been playing an important role in raising awareness about this disease. The government should devise a strategy to also include them in the trainings so that they serve the people in the best possible way,” Dr Mian said.

Training at LGH

Separately, Health Minister Khalil Tahir Sindhu participated in a certificate-distribution ceremony at Lahore General Hospital at the end of a dengue fever training workshop for doctors, nurses and paramedics organised by the Postgraduate Medical Institute.

The minister said dengue was a social as well as a medical problem and the government, medical professionals and the general public needed to work together to combat the disease.

He said that there were currently only seven patients being treated for dengue fever in hospitals in the Punjab. He praised doctors and nurses for their hard work in combating the dengue epidemic of 2011, and thanked the PGMI and the LGH for arranging the training.

PGMI Principal Dr Anjum Habib Vohra and Professor of Paediatrics Agha Shabbir Ali spoke at the concluding session of the workshop to highlight the work done at the hospital and the PGMI to train paramedics.

LGH Medical Superintendent Dr Amjad Shahzad and others also attended the ceremony.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2013.