Hyderabad: Two women died of dengue in the city and one in Nizamabad in the last week of July. In all the cases, the reports of confirmation of dengue came only after the person died.
These were the first deaths caused by dengue in the state this year. All the three were women who died due to dengue hemorrhagic fever.
G. Pallavi, 22, from Amberpet died on July 23 but the confirmation of the test report was received only on July 27. Then, V. Satamma of Adikmet, Vidyanagar, and V. Lakshmi, 65, of Nizamabad died on July 26 but the confirmation of their reports was received only on July 29.
A senior health official said the patients had come at a very critical stage to the government hospitals.
Fever Hospital has so far reported at least 25 cases of dengue in July. Private hospitals claim they have been getting two to three patients on a daily basis. As there is no coordination between the private hospitals and the district medical and health officials, these numbers are not being recorded officially.
A senior health official said, “Private hospitals are not carrying out the ELISA test. They are doing the NSI antigen test and scaring the patients. They are not sending us samples so that we can confirm the findings with the Institute of Preventive Medicine.”
The state government has ordered rapid diagnostic kits from the Centre. These kits are usually supplied to the agency areas and are available at public health centres in the city.
Following the death of the three women, spraying of anti-mosquito chemicals was carried out and awareness camps were also held. More than 100 blood samples were sent for tests.
A health officer said, “Easy availability of water puddles has made it easy for the mosquito to breed. This problem is magnified as the epidemiology wing is not targeting all homes in the area.”
