MADURAI
Stating that critical stages of dengue like ‘dengue shock syndrome’ and ‘dengue haemorrhagic fever’ had already been covered under Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (CMCHIS), C. Vijayabaskar, Minister for Health and Family Welfare, said 4,714 patients with these conditions were treated under the scheme over the past five years.
Commenting on the recent observation by the Madras High Court regarding coverage of dengue under the CMCHIS, he said the scheme also had provisions to claim ₹2,000 per day for a dengue patient, if he or she required treatment in Intensive Care Units.
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Parrying questions from media during his inspection at Government Rajaji Hospital here on Sunday, he denied under-reporting of dengue cases and deaths. “Thorough reporting and audit mechanisms for various types of fevers and related deaths have been put in place. There is no need for the State government to under-report the figures,” he said.
Claiming that the best possible mechanisms had been put in place to tackle the increasing number of dengue and other fever cases, he highlighted the 24-hour fever clinics opened at all government hospitals and procurement of ‘cell counters’ for quick platelet count of patients.
He said private hospitals with inadequate facilities or less than 50 beds had been strictly instructed to not keep patients with low platelet counts and instead refer them to government hospitals.
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He also attributed the rising number of fever cases to the advice issued to government hospitals to treat all fever cases, at least as much as possible, as inpatients instead of outpatients.
When asked about shortage of nursing and other paramedical staff at government hospitals, he said steps had already been initiated to fill around 800 nursing vacancies.
Stating that quacks had been a problem in the State, particularly in treating fever cases, Dr. Vijayabaskar said the State government had booked cases against 770 quacks to date this year.