Private hospitals across the State were told to strictly follow the World Health Organisation guidelines for dengue management, said Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan.
The Health Department has emphasised the need to put in place treatment protocols for dengue and the Indian Medical Association, Indian Academy of Paediatrics, Association of Healthcare Providers of India, nursing home associations and Tamil Nadu Medical Council have reiterated the need for hospitals to strictly follow the WHO guidelines, he added.
Fluid management
“The WHO protocols aim at fever management, monitoring of blood parameters and fluids too,” he said. He added that fluid management is critical when the patient starts recovering from the fever. At government hospitals, cell counters and ELISA testing centres for the diagnosis of dengue have been kept ready.
“These hospitals have 70,000 beds. Apart from secondary and tertiary centres, 30-bed primary health centres are fairly vacant and are capable of treating non-critical patients,” he added.
He urged the public to cooperate and get rid of mosquito breeding sources.
Dengue’s impact was more in areas such as Chennai and Madurai and hence, anti-mosquito activities were tightened, he added.
H1N1 cases
Mr. Radhakrishnan said that H1N1 cases have occurred in places where more travelling happened. This included Chennai and Madurai.
“The cases in Tamil Nadu are extremely sporadic unlike dengue that has been occurring in clusters,” he said.
