As an important step towards combating dengue fever, the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital (MGMGH) attached with K.A.P. Viswanatham Government Medical College has received five more cell counters to analyse blood samples within two to five minutes.
The Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation (TNMSC) acquired the cell counters for MGMGH at a cost of about ₹4.5 lakh each.
One of the cell counters has been set up on the ground floor of the six-storied Super Speciality Block, where a 24-hour fever clinic is functioning. Trauma care, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and emergency wards have also been given a cell counter each.
A Cell counter does not take more than two minutes to count cells in blood. The blood sample is loaded into an automated cell counter and it is sent through a small tube to count cells. After analysing the blood sample, the machine generates a report that contains information on the patient’s blood.
Details such as white cells, red cells, haemoglobin, hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular haemoglobin, red cells distribution width and platelets of patients can be detected instantaneously.
Task made easy
“Gone are the days when we waited for hours together to get blood results. Now, cell counters have made the task easy. We can conduct the blood analysis of patients within no time,” said G. Anitha, Dean, K.A.P. Viswanatham medical college.
She said new cell counters had been established at all important wards. Each counter could analyse the blood samples of more than 200 a day.
With this, the total number of cell counters in the hospital had gone up to eight.
During the recent outbreak of dengue fever, Dr. Anitha said, the MGMGH received an average of 500 to 600 fever patients daily. The cell counters enabled the doctors to rule out whether the patients were affected with dengue fever or not.
Key role
Moreover, the cell counters played a key role in monitoring the platelets of patients during hospitalisation of dengue positive patients, she added.
