Hyderabad: The unwillingness of the nodal health officers of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation and the health officer to register cases of dengue is leading to severe arguments between them and the paediatricians. A senior paediatrician recently had a huge argument with a nodal officer in Hyderabad as he was not willing to register a case. Once a dengue case is confirmed in a private hospital, the report is sent to the nodal officers at the district medical and health office.
Dr S. Srikrishna, paediatrician at Mahaveer Hospital said, “The nodal officers are very rigid and are not understanding the severity of the situation. Their argument is that doctors are trying to spread panic. This is wrong.” The government officers go by the platelet count in the blood. The blood samples are taken and tested at Fever Hospital or government-recognised labs. Dr T.P.J. Karthik, senior paediatrician at Yashoda Hospital said, “The government conducts only one test while there are three different tests which are conducted as there are four different viruses of dengue.
There are symptomatic features like the body swelling up and less urine output, which are not taken into account by them. In some cases, there are rashes all over the body along with high fever. The virus is not that strong as it was in 2012. But the cases are rising.” Another issue with the health officers is that they come very late to collect blood samples. Sometimes, the sample is taken after the treatment is completed. In other cases, blood samples are taken four to five days after treatment.
But the district medical and health officer of Hyderabad refutes these claims. Dr Venkateshwar Rao, DMHO said, “We will accept what is confirmed in our laboratory.” The problem is that when the cases are not registered, the care taken to check mosquito menace is given a miss.
