Dengue count reaches 165; DC holds meeting with officials

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, October 23

The total dengue count in the district has reached 165 after 33 more persons tested positive for the disease. To take stock of the situation, Deputy Commissioner Shivdular Singh Dhillon conducted a meeting of the district task force to check the spread of dengue here on Wednesday.

Shivdular Singh Dhillon said there had not been reported any death due to dengue from the district so far. He issued orders to all private diagnostic labs and hospitals to charge not more than Rs 600 for the dengue diagnosis tests.

Earlier, there were reports that some private labs were exploiting the situation for their benefit and were charging exorbitant fee for tests. The district administration has asked the Municipal Corporation to expedite the work of fogging in all its wards. It has asked the panchayats to use anti-larva chemicals in ponds and other areas where water is stagnant.

Health Department officials informed the Deputy Commissioner that efforts to create awareness about the precautions needed for prevention were being made regularly. District Epidemiologist Dr Madan Mohan said a total of 870 challans in the season were issued to owners of buildings from where mosquito larva was detected during inspection.

Civil Surgeon Hardeep Singh Ghai said Government Medical College and the Civil Hospital were equipped with the Apheresis machine and dengue patients were provided platelet extraction services free of cost. He said 165 out of the total of 462 cases were confirmed positive after diagnosis. He claimed that all private hospitals had been asked to send their samples to the microbiology department at Government Medical College for confirmation.

Dr Hardeep Singh, nodal officer for dengue control, Government Medical College, said apart from patients from the district, they were visited by patients from Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Ferozpur. He said all patients were responding well to the treatment being given and all of them were out of danger.