Madurai district has not witnessed any dengue-related death, claimed senior officials of the Health department on Wednesday.
Addressing a press conference here, Dean of Madurai Medical College D. Maruthupandian, Joint Director of Health Services N. Rukmani and Deputy Director of Health Services K. V. Arjun Kumar said that 1,046 patients had been diagnosed with fever as on September 31 in 2017. Out of them, 270 tested positive for dengue and 776 cases turned out to be other viral fever.
The Dean added that the suspected dengue deaths in the recent past were caused by multi-organ failure. They referred to these cases as ‘viral hemorrhagic fever deaths.’ The death of M. Thiruselvi from Kayampatti and R. Sanjana, a young girl from Sellur, were dubbed as suspected dengue deaths in the media but the officials refuted it.
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The Dean said that there was round-the-clock care at the Government Rajaji Hospital. A special ‘viral fever ward’ was in place with 30 beds and a rapid response team with nodal officers and special doctors would be created to deal with the inflow of patients.
However, those attending on patients refuted the claim of officials. G. Meenama from Tirumangalam said that most doctors did not answer their queries and often dodged a response. “They come and check the case sheets, but do not inform us anything about the health condition of patients,” she said.
Several persons at the GRH complained that the required enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test to check for dengue was not done at the hospital.
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Dr. Maruthapandian clarified that this was not true. “We need five days to confirm dengue. Most patients are unaware of this fact and think that they are not getting treated properly,” he said. He added that doctors in the ward treated patients for dehydration, checked their platelet count and prescribed antibiotics. To clarify queries, help desks would be created in government hospitals.
While speaking of preventive measures, Dr. Arjun Kumar said that all government hospitals and government medical college hospitals hadspecial wards to treat dengue patients. “They are also given nilavembu kashayam,” he said.
Dr. Rukmani said that a cleanliness campaign would be held on Thursdays in all schools across the district and the day would be called Anti-Dengue Day. School campuses in Usilampatti, Sholavandan, Melur, Alanganallur and Peraiyur would be cleaned by health officials and students. An oath to prevent the spread of dengue would be taken by the participants.