Special wards opened at GH to treat patients with fever

Even as number of fever cases being admitted to the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital here has seen a sudden spurt in the recent days, three more special wards have been set up to treat patients with fever.

According to informed sources, the number of patients admitted to the hospital for fever rose to 437 on Saturday from 377 on Friday. They are from Tiruchi, Karur, Ariyalur, Perambalur and Pudukottai districts. Of them, 24 had tested positive for dengue.

A 4-year-old R. Iniya of Thuvakudi, who was suffering from severe fever for the last four days, was declared brought dead to the hospital on Friday. The relatives and friends of her staged a sit-in protest inside the hospital alleging that she could have been saved, if she was admitted to the hospital immediately after being brought her.

Similarly, C. Palaniammal (23) of Pachamalai near Thuraiyur, who was admitted to the Tiruchi GH in the early hours on Friday, died within a few hours of admission. She is said to have had dengue symptoms.

While admitting that there had been a sudden spurt in dengue cases over the last few days, G. Anitha, Dean, K.A.P. Viswanatham Government Medical College Hospital, Tiruchi, told The Hindu that all fever and deaths could not be attributed to dengue.

It was unfortunate that patients with dengue symptoms were being brought to the Tiruchi GH at an advanced stage. It was important for the fever patients to get medical advice as early as possible.

Dr. Anitha said fever cases had gone up since Tuesday, after four days of continuous leave. Instructions were given to the doctors to collect blood samples of patients for test, who were down with fever for more than three days.

Meanwhile, a team of health officials led by R. Chitra, City Health Officer, Tiruchi City Corporation, carried out a surprise check at a private diagnostic centre at Woraiyur here to verify the method and practices being followed to analyse fever cases.

She said that a few discrepancies, including manual washing of ELISA kit, were noted and the Corporation would issue a notice to the centre for the violations.

Source:http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Tiruchirapalli/ward-set-up-for-fever-patients/article19820211.ece