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Friday March 29, 2024

Dengue fever outbreak getting out of control in Pindi

By Muhammad Qasim
September 18, 2019

Rawalpindi: The dengue fever spread continues to haunt population in this region of the country with much intensity and the number of confirmed patients being reported at healthcare facilities every day hints that the situation is getting out of control.

Data collected by ‘The News’ on Tuesday reveals that the three teaching hospitals in town including Holy Family Hospital, Benazir Bhutto Hospital and District Headquarters Hospital have tested another 355 patients positive in last 48 hours that amounts to over 177 patients of the infection reported per day.

Just four days back, till Friday last, the allied hospitals were receiving around 110 confirmed patients of dengue fever per day on average and according to health experts, if the number of confirmed patients continues to swell with the same trend, the hospitals would be receiving over 300 patients per day within a week or so and it may not be possible then for the hospitals to accommodate dengue fever patients.

On Tuesday, as many as 542 dengue fever patients were undergoing treatment at the three teaching hospitals that have a capacity of accommodating not over 150 patients with infectious diseases in wards. The hospitals have been utilising space in other departments like ENT and emergency departments to accommodate dengue fever patients while corridors have also been converted into wards to facilitate patients of the infection.

The confirmation of another 355 patients positive for dengue fever in last two days has taken the total number of positive patients so far reported at the allied hospitals to 2,579 while the infection has already claimed three lives, two at HFH and one at BBH.

The burden of dengue fever patients at the allied hospitals can be gauged from the fact that the allied hospitals have already discharged well over 3300 patients after treatment while a total of 16270 patients have been examined at dengue fever outpatient departments of the three hospitals in last one-and-half month. In last 24 hours, as many as 996 patients reported at dengue OPDs at the allied hospitals of which 496 were suspected as patients of the disease though of 496, a total of 289 were turned out to be probable cases of dengue fever. On Tuesday, the hospitals were waiting for final results in 160 cases.

To date, the HFH has received a total of 1,302 confirmed patients of dengue fever while BBH tested a total of 674 patients positive for the infection. The DHQ Hospital has so far received 603 confirmed patients of the infection.