Unscrupulous using dengue to make money?
Private hospitals allegedly misdiagnosing patients with dengue fever and prescribing unnecessary costly treatment.
LAHORE:
The Health Department of the city district government of Lahore (CDGL) is likely to crack down soon on certain private hospitals allegedly misdiagnosing patients with dengue fever and prescribing costly treatment without the need, The Express Tribune has learnt.
The CDGL has been receiving over 1,000 calls a day recently from people asking it to fumigate their neighbuorhoods because someone had contracted “dengue fever”. A large number of complainants mentioned that the patients diagnosed with dengue fever had been injected with platelets at some private hospital.
The district health officer said that private hospitals appeared to be treating visiting patients for dengue fever without proper diagnosis. He said that some patients seemed to have been injected unnecessarily with platelets.
He said that only patients with a platelet count of less than 20,000 required platelet injections. He criticised these hospitals and doctors for sensationalising the disease and exploiting it.
He added that the teaching hospitals and the Blood Transfusion Authority had been provided with a sufficient number of platelet kits and requested people to visit government hospitals for proper diagnosis of the disease.
The Health Department, he said, would soon launch a public awareness campaign to educate people about the symptoms of the dengue fever.
Dr Saeed Elahi, the parliamentary secretary for health, said that the CDGL’s Centre for Communicable Diseases at Bilal Gunj, a 200-bed facility, was being dedicated for diagnosis and treatment of dengue patients. Dr Elahi said that the decision would be implemented in a few days.
He said that the government hospitals were provided free of charge diagnosis and treatment to the dengue patients.
The administrations, he said, have been directed to keep 10 to 30 beds for dengue patients.
He said that the government had provided the district administration with sufficient quantities of anti-mosquito spray and about 150 pumps. He added that the health department of the CDGL has been directed to complete the fumigation of all union councils.
Elahi said that the government would take notice of the complaints of misdiagnosing people or selling platelet kits at unreasonable prices.
He said that the Jinnah Hospital has been provided with more than 350 platelet kits.
The government, he said, would request the World Health Organisation, the UNICEF and other agencies for their help to import more platelet kits.
Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, during a meeting to review the measures being taken to control the dengue outbreak on Friday, directed the Health Department to immediately import more medical kits.
The Communicable Disease Control Cell said the total number of cases reported in the province until Friday was 1,359, of this 1,185 was in Lahore.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 30th, 2010.
The Health Department of the city district government of Lahore (CDGL) is likely to crack down soon on certain private hospitals allegedly misdiagnosing patients with dengue fever and prescribing costly treatment without the need, The Express Tribune has learnt.
The CDGL has been receiving over 1,000 calls a day recently from people asking it to fumigate their neighbuorhoods because someone had contracted “dengue fever”. A large number of complainants mentioned that the patients diagnosed with dengue fever had been injected with platelets at some private hospital.
The district health officer said that private hospitals appeared to be treating visiting patients for dengue fever without proper diagnosis. He said that some patients seemed to have been injected unnecessarily with platelets.
He said that only patients with a platelet count of less than 20,000 required platelet injections. He criticised these hospitals and doctors for sensationalising the disease and exploiting it.
He added that the teaching hospitals and the Blood Transfusion Authority had been provided with a sufficient number of platelet kits and requested people to visit government hospitals for proper diagnosis of the disease.
The Health Department, he said, would soon launch a public awareness campaign to educate people about the symptoms of the dengue fever.
Dr Saeed Elahi, the parliamentary secretary for health, said that the CDGL’s Centre for Communicable Diseases at Bilal Gunj, a 200-bed facility, was being dedicated for diagnosis and treatment of dengue patients. Dr Elahi said that the decision would be implemented in a few days.
He said that the government hospitals were provided free of charge diagnosis and treatment to the dengue patients.
The administrations, he said, have been directed to keep 10 to 30 beds for dengue patients.
He said that the government had provided the district administration with sufficient quantities of anti-mosquito spray and about 150 pumps. He added that the health department of the CDGL has been directed to complete the fumigation of all union councils.
Elahi said that the government would take notice of the complaints of misdiagnosing people or selling platelet kits at unreasonable prices.
He said that the Jinnah Hospital has been provided with more than 350 platelet kits.
The government, he said, would request the World Health Organisation, the UNICEF and other agencies for their help to import more platelet kits.
Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, during a meeting to review the measures being taken to control the dengue outbreak on Friday, directed the Health Department to immediately import more medical kits.
The Communicable Disease Control Cell said the total number of cases reported in the province until Friday was 1,359, of this 1,185 was in Lahore.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 30th, 2010.