At 286, dengue cases at all-time high

Noida: As many as 12 new

cases

of

dengue

were reported in Noida on Friday. With this, the caseload in the city reached 286 — an all-time high.

In the wake of a surge in cases, the health department has now formed 350 teams for fogging and awareness drives. They include officials of authorities, nagar panchayats, nagar palikas and the district administration.

Officials said that fogging drives have been intensified along with surveillance and container surveys to check if people are letting fresh water collect in their homes.

“We have increased door-to-door surveillance to check if water is getting collected. We can see some clusters now where more cases are being reported. We will soon have clear areas. Meanwhile, we are sending teams in places from where we are getting complaints,” said Dr Sunil Sharma, chief medical officer.

The health department has started imposing penalties on builders and residents where stagnant water is found. Over 35 residents in two high-rise societies have been fined a cumulative amount of Rs 50,000.

Meanwhile, most private

hospitals

are reserving more beds for dengue patients as the existing beds are mostly occupied with fever patients.

Sharda hospital on Friday added 100 dengue beds in the hospital.

“We get about 100-150 patients every day with dengue-like symptoms. Of these, about 40 need hospitalisation. The problem is that many children are also getting affected. We recently had a female patient with a very low platelet count who has a two-day-old child referred to us. We had to admit her as well as the child in NICU for monitoring. Managing beds has become challenging now,” said Ajit Kumar, spokesperson, Sharda Hospital.

At Felix hospital, additional beds have been set up in available spaces. “There has been a steep rise in patients with dengue-like symptoms. They need to be hospitalised. Since we have a small establishment, we are trying to use up whatever space we have to accommodate the serious patients,” said Dr DK Gupta, chairman, Felix Hospital.

Meanwhile, the district health department is not accepting any positive dengue reports sent by private hospitals. Officials said that as per the state norms, if a patient is found positive, their samples have to be sent to the labs at the district hospital or Child PGI for cross-verification and confirmation.

Only those cases that are tested by these two labs are added to the district’s tally. However, private hospitals claim that while reports can be mailed, it is not feasible for them to send hundreds of samples every day to the district hospital.


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