Dengue surge in Jalandhar: Platelet machine repair delayed by 3 months

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 30

As dengue cases hit the peak in Jalandhar, two apheresis machines, which separate blood into its various components, including platelets, at the Civil Hospital are lying defunct. While one had been out of order for quite some time, the other one was rendered useless 25 days ago due to dearth of kits.

Though cases start reporting at the onset of the monsoon, the authorities took almost three months to write to the Punjab Health Systems Corporation, seeking repair of the machines. The delay aggravated the crisis. Due to the spike in reduced platelet cases, many patients have been making a beeline at the hospital and are being forced to buy single donor platelets at much higher price from private hospitals.

Medical Superintendent Dr Seema said: “We had sought the repair and maintenance of the non-functional machine at least two weeks ago. The approval has been received and the machine will be functional in two-three days. The kits for the other machine have also arrived and will now be administered.”

On what took the health officials so long to seek the repair of a machine critical for dengue patients, she said: “One machine was working. Things got out of hand only due to shortage of kits.”

Civil Surgeon Dr Ranjit Ghotra blamed his predecessors for the delay. “I have just joined the hospital. The repair had to be sought by the previous teams. As soon as I came to know about it, I took up the issue with the Director and the approval was received the next day. The faulty parts of the machine will be replaced soon,” he said.

Phagwara patients reach jalandhar too

• Single donor platelets cost Rs6,720 at the Civil Hospital, Rs7,056 at the Jan Aushadhi store, but private hospitals charge as high as Rs11,000
• As the Jan Aushadhi store near the Civil Hospital was recently closed, patients are running to as far as Babrik Chowk to procure the kits
• As the machine in Phagwara, too, has run out of order due to lack of timely repairs, patients are being referred to Jalandhar, leading to more case load at the Civil Hospital

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