Jalandhar October 4:
Keeping in view the huge rush of dengue and viral fever patients, the Punjab Health Department has provided additional 11 doctors and 30 nurses to the local civil hospital here.
Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla and Principal Secretary, Health, Satish Chandra, who visited the civil hospital today, have directed the Chief Medical Officer to ensure presence of at least two doctors and an adequate number of nurses round the clock on each floor of the hospital.
Arrangement has also been made to provide additional 150 beds in the local civil hospital. Meanwhile, the Health Department today also announced free treatment for dengue patients in the state. Announcement in this regard was made after the visit of the Health Minister.
Of the 400 confirmed dengue cases, 212 have been reported in Jalandhar, 91 in Ludhiana and remaining in other parts of the state. Beside, the number of viral fever cases is in thousands. The Health Department said the patients admitted to the local civil hospital would not have to pay the file, admission, tests, investigations and platelet transfusion charges. However, they would have to buy the single-use apheresis kit, used for separating platelets from the blood, from the market.
The kit costs more than Rs 7,000 and has to be disposed off after use. Satish Chandra said the CMO had been directed to prepare the case history of viral fever cases and submit the same to the community medicine department of the PGI to sort out the mystery with regard to the viral fever. He said that the PGI would be requested to find that what type of virus was causing the viral fever leading the fall of blood count tremendously even in non-dengue patients.
Such virus, whether it is airborne or transmitted through the vector bite, should be immediately isolated, identified and named. In case, the virus is airborne, then the health department would have to adopt a different strategy to treat such cases. Such cases would have to be kept in isolated wards instead general wards."
Keeping in view the huge rush of dengue and viral fever patients, the Punjab Health Department has provided additional 11 doctors and 30 nurses to the local civil hospital here.
Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla and Principal Secretary, Health, Satish Chandra, who visited the civil hospital today, have directed the Chief Medical Officer to ensure presence of at least two doctors and an adequate number of nurses round the clock on each floor of the hospital.
Arrangement has also been made to provide additional 150 beds in the local civil hospital. Meanwhile, the Health Department today also announced free treatment for dengue patients in the state. Announcement in this regard was made after the visit of the Health Minister.
Of the 400 confirmed dengue cases, 212 have been reported in Jalandhar, 91 in Ludhiana and remaining in other parts of the state. Beside, the number of viral fever cases is in thousands. The Health Department said the patients admitted to the local civil hospital would not have to pay the file, admission, tests, investigations and platelet transfusion charges. However, they would have to buy the single-use apheresis kit, used for separating platelets from the blood, from the market.
The kit costs more than Rs 7,000 and has to be disposed off after use. Satish Chandra said the CMO had been directed to prepare the case history of viral fever cases and submit the same to the community medicine department of the PGI to sort out the mystery with regard to the viral fever. He said that the PGI would be requested to find that what type of virus was causing the viral fever leading the fall of blood count tremendously even in non-dengue patients.
Such virus, whether it is airborne or transmitted through the vector bite, should be immediately isolated, identified and named. In case, the virus is airborne, then the health department would have to adopt a different strategy to treat such cases. Such cases would have to be kept in isolated wards instead general wards."
