Dengue patients' rush at pvt health facilities

PATNA: Apart from government hospitals, the surge in dengue cases has also led to rush of patients in private health facilities in the city. Over 150 dengue patients were undergoing treatment at different hospitals in the city on Saturday.

On Saturday, there were 28 dengue patients at Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, 25 at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna, 23 at Patna Medical College Hospital (23) and nine at Nalanda Medical College and Hospital. At Jai Prabha Medanta, 15 patients were undergoing treatment and the number stood at 31 at Ruban Memorial Hospital. Similarly, 30 patients were undergoing treatment at Paras HMRI. Altogether 12 patients were being treated in the intensive critical unit of the three hospitals.

Head of the medicine department at Paras HMRI, Dr V K Thakur, said they were getting slightly more serious cases this time when compared to the previous years. "The rate of hospitilisation is also a bit higher. Serious patients are coming with dengue shock syndromes and hemorrhagic fever," Dr Thakur added.

Medical director at Jaya Prabha Medanta, Dr Ravi Shankar, said 25 dengue patients were undergoing treatment at the hospital, including five in the ICU. "We are getting many severe cases too," he added.

Former state IMA president Dr Ajay Kumar said the number of patients turning up at the private clinics would be at least ten times more than the government hospitals.

Meanwhile, 322 new dengue cases were reported in the state on Saturday, including 178 in Patna, followed by Muzaffarpur (19), Saran (17), Vaishali (15) and Begusarai (12). With this, the state's dengue tally so far this year has increased to 8,459.