Most government hospitals are not equipped to deal with patients on Sundays
Most government hospitals are not equipped to deal with patients on Sundays
Forget about containing dengue, now those affected by the vector-borne disease have to check the calendar before they go to any of the Delhi government hospitals to avail the treatment. It cannot be a Sunday as most of the hospitals refused to diagnose the platelet count on Sunday of an under cover MiD DAY reporter posing as a patient. The hospital instead asked her to come on Monday, instead of bothering to check her condition.
Another startling fact is that in spite of 1295 dengue cases reported so far, hospitals do not even have the Apheresis platelets, important for proper diagnosis of the disease and to stop continuous bleeding when someone is suffering from dengue. It is also very important to stabilise the patients' condition.
Ram Manohar Lohia (RML), Govind Bhallabh Pant and Deen Dayal Upadhyay are some of the hospitals that do not have the Apheresis platelets machine available with them, whereas Guru Tegh Bahadur (GTB) and Lok Nayak hospitals have varying rates for the same treatment.
"You can come to us with two donors along with Rs 6,500 and we will make the necessary arrangements. But we cannot treat you today," said an official from the Blood Bank department, Lok Nayak Hospital.
"Presently, we have a small pack of Apheresis platelets. If you want a large pack, it will cost you Rs 9,000," said a person from the Blood Bank at GTB hospital.u00a0
When this reporter contacted the White Cross Blood Bank, they did have Apheresis platelets available with them, but the cost for the same was found to be Rs 12,000.
"You can come to us anytime. We will treat you," said a White Cross official.
u00a0"If a person wants to get tested for dengue, he has to wait for the next weekday. What if his condition deteriorates in that time?" said a senior official from the health department on condition of anonymity.
CLEAN-UP ACT
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) will launch a week-long sanitation-cum-cleanliness drive from tomorrow to control mosquito breeding and spread of dengue in the national capital. "The drive is aimed at controlling breeding of Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes responsible for spread of dengue", Municipal Commissioner K S Mehra said. All departments of the civic body have been directed to participate effectively in the drive to ensure sanitation and cleanliness in the city, it said. Mehra also appealed to residents welfare associations, market associations, parents-teachers associations and social welfare groups to participate in the drive and help in containing the spread of dengue by identifying and destroying mosquito breedings places.
ADVERTISEMENT
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
