By IANS,
Bhopal : Mosquito-borne dengue fever is fast spreading in Madhya Pradesh with the disease having claimed at least nine lives in the past three months and affecting more than 300 people, health officials said Thursday.
Though at least 192 cases of dengue have been confirmed by the Bhopal-based Gandhi Medical College alone, the District Malaria Officer Padmakar Tripathi last week put the figure at 103 confirmed cases.
The government, however, still put the number of those affected by dengue in the capital at 57 and 163 in the entire state.
“We get at least 10-15 dengue patients everyday and the hospital is almost full,” said Ajay Goenka, a doctor with the private Chirayu Hospital here.
Private practitioners say that the actual number of dengue affected people will be much higher if the patients in private hospitals and rural areas are taken into account.
Gopal Batini, a doctor with the private Ayushman Hospital also said that the number of patients would be much higher than the official figures.
“The hospital is almost full because of dengue,” he said.
Director (Health) of Madhya Pradesh government Ashok Sharma said: “Nine people have died from dengue in Madhya Pradesh in the past three months, while 129 others – of which 57 are in the state capital – are affected by the disease.
“It’s true that most dengue patients, as many as 57, were in the state capital, followed by 33 in Indore, 17 in Balaghat and 12 in other districts. Three people died of dengue in Bhopal and Indore each. One each succumbed in Ashoknagar, Satna and Balaghat,” Sharma told IANS.
Sharma claimed that necessary steps had been taken to control dengue and the district medical officers had been directed to remain in contact with private hospitals and send information about those affected.
But a source in the state health department said: “Surprisingly, none of the government-run hospitals have Single Donor Platelet Phaeresis (SDPP) machine – the mechanism required for collection of platelets and plasma for effective treatment of dengue cases.”
Secretary of Health Department S.R. Mohanty said that procurement of the SDPP machines for Indore, Bhopal, Ujjain and Jabalpur hospitals was in the pipeline and they would be made available soon.