Dengue claims another life

Rawalpindi: The dengue fever outbreak that has become almost out of control in this region of the country has claimed another life at Benazir Bhutto Hospital taking total number of deaths caused by the infection this month at the allied hospitals to three.

Data collected by ‘The News’ on Sunday reveals that to date, the dengue fever claimed two lives at BBH and one at Holy Family Hospital while in last 48 hours, the three teaching hospitals have tested another 304 patients positive that has taken the total number of patients so far confirmed positive this year at the allied hospitals to 2,224.

The situation has become much alarming as on Friday, there were 459 patients undergoing treatment at the three allied hospitals including HFH, BBH and District Headquarters Hospital while on Sunday the number swelled to 538. As many as 320 confirmed dengue fever patients were undergoing treatment at the allied hospitals on Sunday whereas the hospitals have yet to receive final results in 162 cases.

The data reveals that the incidence of dengue fever is continuously on the rise and the daily influx of confirmed patients of the infection at the allied hospitals is alarmingly increasing. Before September 9, the allied hospitals were receiving less than 100 confirmed patients of dengue fever a day while in last two days, the allied hospitals tested 304 patients positive for the infection amounting to 152 patients a day.

The allied hospitals have also started facing shortage of space to accommodate dengue fever patients and for the purpose, the hospitals have been developing makeshift wards in other departments as well as in corridors.

Data collected by ‘The News’ reveals that in last 48 hours, the HFH has tested as many as 160 patients positive for dengue fever while DHQ Hospital tested 107 patients positive for the infection. The BBH, however has tested only 37 patients positive for dengue fever in last 48 hours. To date, the HFH has received a total of 1167 confirmed patients of dengue fever while BBH received 565 patients and DHQ Hospital received 532 confirmed patients of the infection.