KARACHI: In view of a possible outbreak of dengue fever in the city, the Sindh health department has ordered for the maximum utilisation of relevant facilities available with the government hospitals. A meeting of medical superintendents and executive district officer (health), Karachi, was held on Monday with the secretary of the health department, Dr Syed Hashim Raza Zaidi, in the chair.
The participants of the meeting were told that the provincial health minister had expressed the need for immediate and effective measures to contain dengue fever cases in the city and other parts of the province.
While the medical circles maintained that there had been a rapid increase in the mosquito-borne dengue fever, the provincial dengue surveillance cell (PDSC) in its daily report of Monday said that 10 new patients suspected of suffering from dengue fever had been admitted to Karachi Adventist Hospital during the past 24 hours.
The hospital admitted in all 34 cases in recent days and all were found positive for dengue fever, the report included.
According to the cell, so far 335 suspected dengue fever patients were admitted to eight government and private hospitals during the year, out of which 196 were tested positive for dengue fever.
The health secretary directed the official concerned to ensure collection of data pertaining to dengue fever from more private hospitals and include those in the consolidated daily dengue report.He also asked medical superintendents of the city and provincial government hospitals to communicate cases of dengue to the surveillance cell as soon as they were reported in their hospitals.
A source said that the issue of provision of mega platelet units to patients suffering severely from dengue was also discussed and a judicious use of the mega units was stressed, avoiding any purchase from the private sector as it was tantamount to overburdening the government financially particularly when the government sector hospitals had already been equipped with the cell-separators and mega unit bags.
Mr Zaidi directed for provision of mega units for free to the deserving patients admitted to the government hospitals and also asked the hospitals to ensure establishment of isolation wards for the confirmed dengue fever cases.
He pointed out to the medical superintendents of the government hospital which had been provided with the cell-separators during the last couple of years to ensure active working of those.
Warning the health officials not to show any negligence or slackness, the health secretary said he would personally visit hospitals to monitor arrangements for dengue patients.
Eye infection
Chairing another meeting of senior health officials, the secretary said that Sindh Health Minister Dr Sagheer Ahmed keeping in view the possible spread of eye infection in Karachi, had directed establishment of free eye camps in all major hospital of the Sindh government and the city government to provide timely treatment to patients.
The minister also ordered officials to ensure availability of ophthalmologists, diagnostic tools and medicines in the camps.
The meeting decided that a three-day eye camp would start functioning in hospitals from September 21.
Dr Nasir Javed, the EDO and medical superintendents of all major hospitals of Karachi assured the chair that eye specialists would remain present at the camps.
In the meantime, Sindh health department’s daily report on facilitation and treatment of flood-affected people in the medical camps across the province, said that the 516 fixed medical and 156 mobile medical camps registered another 30,724 males and females and children for treatment on September 19.
In all 1,584,450 patients have been attended to at the medical relief camps since July 31. The camp also registered 14,822 pregnant women while 1,832 deliveries have taken place.
Till Sept 19, a maximum of 307,705 IDPs reported for the treatment of diarrhoea/gastroenteritis, followed by 275,743 for skin diseases, 261,127 for acute respiratory tract infections, 187,423 suspected suffering from malaria and 113,628 for eye-infection. Another 433,680 people reported suffering from other diseases since July 31.
The health department report also said that so far 239,594 children up to the age of five years had been given the routine immunisation vaccines like BCG, oral polio vaccines, pentavalent and measles vaccines while 91,116 adults were injected preventive doses against hepatitis B.
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