The epidemic that wasn’t
While National Institute of Health (NIH), the primary institute for testing blood samples, says no patient has yet tested positive for the disease, while ministry of health officials and doctors at government-run hospitals tell a different story.
They say scores of patients have been diagnosed with dengue and that too by NIH.
These conflicting reports, at the very least, point to a lack of coordination between government health institutions.
“We receive blood samples from all over the country, but so far, no one has been diagnosed with the disease,” claimed Dr Jaleel Kamran of Epidemic Investigation Cell at NIH on Saturday.
However Dr Rashid Jooma, Director General Ministry of Health, denied NIH’s claims.
He said 2,000 patients suspected of suffering dengue fever had been reported from across the country, out of which 1,000 had tested positive.
“Almost all of the cases reported positive for dengue were tested by NIH,” he added.
“All test samples of suspected dengue fever patients coming to hospital were sent to NIH for tests,” Dr Mehmood Jamal concurred, who is the Executive Director of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims). He said that over the past 24 hours, the hospital had received 20 such patients, including a senior politician. He said that of these 20, six were declared positive by NIH.
Dr Javed Hayat, In-charge of the Infection Control Committee at Holy Family Hospital, said they had received 204 patients with symptoms indicative of dengue. Their blood samples were sent to NIH and results for 41 came back positive for the virus.
Dr Asif Mir, Medical Superintendent at Benazir Bhutto Hospital Rawalpindi, said that as many as 40 patients suspected of being infected with the virus had been brought to the hospital. He said the hospital took blood samples of the patients and sent them to NIH for tests. “NIH declared two patients positive for the virus.”
Dr Sher Ali, Medical Superintendent at Divisional Headquarter (DHQ) Rawalpindi, and Dr Sharif Astori, spokesperson for the Polyclinic Hospital, also had similar claims. Dr Ali claimed that during the past week, 10 patients suspected of dengue came to the hospital. Four of them were tested positive for the virus by NIH.
Dr Astori of Polyclinic Hospital said they had received 10 suspected dengue patients in the past seven days, of which NIH diagnosed six patients with the disease. Talking to the Express Tribune, Head of Pathology Department Pims, Professor Dr Anwarul Haq, said the hospital had been requested to provide testing kits. This will help diagnose dengue patients in a shorter duration so that they can be given timely treatment.
The doctor said the hospital is also facing shortage of platelets due to the large number of patients suspected of the disease coming in.
“We normally request the patient’s attendant to donate blood but even then, at times, the blood becomes difficult to arrange,” she said.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 17th, 2010.
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