Congo fever claims another life in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Another patient died of Congo fever in the provincial capital on Saturday, though the Health Directorate is clueless about the total number of deaths caused by the deadly virus and the number of patients admitted to hospitals in the province.

Siddiqur Rahman, 45, died at the Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC), Peshawar. He belonged to Peshawar and was admitted to the hospital a few days ago.

He was the third casualty of the Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) at the HMC this year.

Senior officials of the HMC told The News that eight patients were brought to the hospital this year with suspected Congo virus and four of them were tested positive.

They said three of the four Congo fever patients had died while the fourth one recovered and returned home.

Of the remaining two cases, a female belonged to Afghanistan and the second patient hailed from Bannu.

Out of eight patients admitted to HMC, two belonged to Afghanistan, three to Bannu and the remaining to Peshawar district and Bajuar and Khyber tribal regions.

There is no proper isolation ward in any public sector health facility of the province for accommodating patients suffering from the deadly infectious diseases.

The HMC administration has declared four private rooms as isolation ward for dealing with patients brought with numerous virus-related diseases. Some of the Congo fever patients were also admitted to the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) and Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) recently. One patient recently died at the KTH.

The doctors in KTH had complained that the hospital administration failed in making precautionary measures for the doctors and other staff members dealing with such sensitive patients in the hospital.

“The hospital administration neither takes this sensitive issue seriously nor makes any precautionary measures for the doctors and support staff who deal with patients brought to us with deadly viral infections,” complained a senior consultant in KTH.

Also, he said that though every year patients of viral infection are brought to KTH and other hospitals, the KTH administration failed to arrange for them a separate space so other patients are protected.

He said a number of health care workers, including doctors, nurses and paramedics had been infected while handling such patients, apparently due to lack of proper kits and precautionary measures.