No cell counter facility at Dera Bassi Civil Hospital

Satinder Pal Singh

With the dengue scare haunting people in different parts of the state, the Dera Bassi Civil Hospital is ill-equipped to handle the challenge that the disease poses. Reason: The Civil Hospital has no cell counter machine to check the platelet count of the patient.

As a result, patients visiting the Civil Hospital are forced to get their platelets count done from the private labs. Even as hundreds of cases of fever are being reported at the Civil Hospital and doctors acknowledge that the cases are of seasonal viral fever, they are still not adequately equipped to diagnose and confirm the disease.

The dearth of such equipment in the Civil Hospital can only compromise on its ability to diagnose and treat patients, thus severely affecting public health.

While the medical fraternity seeks to downplay the seriousness of the disease so as not to create panic, there is no denying the fact that patients, on getting critical, are left to fend for themselves.

Despite getting the status of subdivision, the hospital does not seem to have the technical competency or equipment to treat patients suffering from dengue.

According to the information available, 11 confirmed cases of dengue have been reported in Dera Bassi, adding that eight cases were from the city while two from nearby villages and one from Banur area. The dengue outbreak has belied the claims of the government that Punjab is providing best health services in the country.

Though the Health Department claimed to have stepped up the drive to create awareness about cleaning coolers, and fogging has been initiated on a war footing areas, dengue menace is still looming large and has not been effectively checked. The poor civic conditions in the city and villages are flaring up the situation, but the authorities are still to wake up to take the call.

Kanti Devi, a patient, alleged that she got her platelets count done from a private lab as the Civil Hospital does not have equipment. She added that she could not go all the way to Chandigarh or Mohali to get the dengue test done.

“There is so much hue and cry about the disease and the hospital authorities are sitting just as a mute spectator”, rued one of the attendants of the patients.

Mohinder Singh, SMO, Dera Bassi, said: “The hospital lacks cell counter following which the patients are thronging private labs to get their platelet count done. He added that he has written to the higher authorities regarding the cell counter machine.