Allied hospitals receiving two times more patients from Islamabad than Rawalpindi; HFH sources claim a female patient from Media Town dies of co-morbidities and not because of dengue fever
Islamabad
Despite a significant fall in temperature in the federal capital, the on-going dengue fever outbreak here in Islamabad Capital Territory, particularly in rural areas of Islamabad could not be faded away and still, it is more intense as compared to outbreak in Rawalpindi.
Data collected by ‘The News’ on Monday has revealed that well over 400 confirmed patients of dengue fever have been reported from the federal capital in last 10 days at an average over 40 patients of the infection per day. To date, a total of 1,230 patients from Islamabad have been tested positive for the infection.
It is also worth mention here that not less than 80 per cent of total patients reported from the federal capital reached the three teaching hospitals in Rawalpindi for treatment.
On Monday, the number of patients from Islamabad undergoing treatment at the three allied hospitals including Holy Family Hospital, Benazir Bhutto Hospital and District Headquarters Hospital was double as compared to the number of patients admitted to the allied hospitals from Rawalpindi.
According to details, a total of 291 patients of dengue fever were undergoing treatment at the three allied hospitals on Monday of which as many as 212 have been confirmed positive for the infection. Of the confirmed patients undergoing treatment at the allied hospitals, only 67 belong to Rawalpindi while 135 are residents of Islamabad.
Data collected by ‘The News’ reveals that on Monday, as many as 146 patients were undergoing treatment at the HFH of which 129 have been tested positive including 35 from Rawalpindi and 85 from Islamabad.
Of 132 patients currently admitted at the BBH, 70 have been tested positive for dengue fever including 24 from Rawalpindi and 45 from Islamabad while at DHQ Hospital, 12 confirmed patients were undergoing treatment on Monday including seven patients from Rawalpindi and five from Islamabad.
Additional District Health Officer at Islamabad Capital Territory Health Department Dr. Muhammad Najeeb Durrani when contacted by ‘The News’ on Monday said that in the second week of October, the number of dengue fever patients recorded downward trend in the federal capital but it shot up once again after October 14.
He added the worst hit area by the dengue fever outbreak consists of union councils falling in rural area of the federal capital along Islamabad Expressway including Rawat, Sohan, Tarlai and Korang along with Tarnol near to Pirwadhai Morh.
To a query, he said there might have been rumours about deaths of patients due to dengue fever however in actual, only one patient belonging to the federal capital, 24-year-old male from Tarlai, died of the infection in the last week of September this year as has been reported so far till Monday.
When asked there have been reports of a number of cases of dengue fever from Media Town being reported on social media along with death of a female patient from the area, he said not a single death from dengue fever in ICT areas can be left unreported. If confirmed cases of dengue fever have been reported from Media Town, the response teams would have sprayed insecticidal residual spray in 48 houses around the house of the victim along with the victim’s house, claimed Dr. Durrani.
Giving details, he said the first patient namely Tahir son of Sultan Khan reported from Media Town reached BBH on October 20 and the response team has carried out activity in his case.
He added another five patients from Media Town including M Kamran Ullah, Zara Batool, M Azam, Hameed ul Hassan and Bushra Bibi reached HFH on Saturday and he was notified of the cases on Monday. The teams would carry out response activity in Media Town on Tuesday, said Dr. Durrani.
He, however, claimed once again that so far no death has been reported due to dengue fever from Media Town. He also appealed to individuals to not to spread baseless rumours as these may cause panic among public and damage to patients.
On counter checking from HFH, ‘The News’ learnt that the female patient taken to the hospital from Media Town expired at the hospital but she died of co-morbidities and not because of dengue fever as claimed by the hospital sources.
The death of female patient from Media Town has not been notified as death due to dengue fever.
