Hyderabad: A ten-year-old girl died of dengue in Chaderghat on Wednesday. Meanwhile district medical and health officials continue to claim ignorance about the cases stating that the private hospitals are not informing them about dengue cases in the city.
A senior health officer in Hyderabad said, “We are not aware of many cases. No notification is being given to us. The private hospitals have been told to notify the cases but only a handful are doing so.” As per protocol, blood samples are to be tested in a private laboratory and a second sample is to be sent to the Institute of Preventive Medicine. From IPM, a notification is to be given to the district medical and health officers who follow up the case. However, this notification is not being given, allege health officials.
Dr R. Reddy, a senior epidemiologist at the district office said, “When we call the IPM for details they refuse to tell us anything, asking us to check with the hospital. When the hospitals are not notifying us, how will we know which case is where. How will surveying or counselling be carried out?”
At the same time, the IPM does not conduct dengue tests everyday. They wait for the count of samples to go up to 50 and than open the kit for testing. IPM director Dr Amrender Reddy said, “We are following protocol and all officials, in hospitals and in the Health department are being notified. If there are complaints, we will look into them.”
