Mosquitoes swarm dengue ward

Mosquitoes swarm dengue ward
Special ward at Civil Hospital cries for attention
Rajay Deep
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, November 30
Mosquitoes and dengue patients are sharing a special ward meant to treat the latter at the Sentinel Surveillance Hospital (SSH) on the premises of the Civil Hospital here. Patients undergoing treatment for dengue and their attendant were all complains about the 'facility' provided by the district health authorities when TNS visited the ward.
Observing the rising number of dengue patients with every passing day, the state health department had set up the SSH to treat patients from four districts, namely Mansa, Muktsar, Bathinda and Faridkot. Besides, the Civil Hospital authorities were asked to set up a separate ward for dengue patients.
Following the instructions, a separate 14-bedded ward for dengue patients was duly set up.
However, TNS found that the ward located on the top floor of the hospital was poorly kept, worse than a general ward.
Not only the suspected/confirmed dengue patients were admitted there, but few others complaining of stomach pain and hemophilia were also being treated in the same ward.
Out of the nine beds, only three had nets to protect patients from a large number of mosquitoes flying around. It only exposed the indifferent attitude of the health officials towards the patients.
Patients and their attendants lamented, "There is no special facility here which could distinguish it from other wards."
"I am suffering from dengue fever. But this ward, which is said to be set up only for dengue patients, is a source of the disease itself. You can see it is full of mosquitoes. While it is the duty of the hospital staff to ensure that the ward is free of mosquitoes, we are using repellant coils that we have purchased to keep the insects away," said one Mohit Kumar of Balraj Nagar.
"Mosquitoes and the mess around are not the only problems here. The staff is so cruel that they summon a patient to the ground floor to collect a blood sample rather than getting it from his bed itself. Ask for the test report of the sample and you have to deal with a discourteous laboratory staff," complained one Satpal Kumar of Bharat Nagar.
One Gurjant Singh of Jaitu said, "My son is suffering from Hemophilia but he has been allotted a bed along with dengue patients. I wish doctors shift him to some other ward."
When senior medical officer Dr Vinod Kumar was contacted, he said he was not aware of the situation. "As we have set up a 14-bed separate arrangement for dengue patients, the allotment of beds to other patients in those wards is a serious matter. Moreover, we had equipped the beds with nets to protect patients from mosquitoes. How can the nets disappear? I will look into the case and take action against the guilty," the SMO said.