Number of dengue cases rises

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, September 26

With the District Health Department confirming a total of 495 dengue-positive cases, the district is inching towards its previous year’s record of reporting a total of 852 cases.

However in 2014, the district had reported only 22 dengue cases. In 2013, the total dengue cases were 244. While only 26 cases were reported in 2012, the district had reported 176 cases in 2011.

The figures clearly indicate that a sudden increase in the dengue cases has occurred during the past two years. However, the health authorities have a different point of view. The district epidemiologist, Dr Madan Mohan, said, “The increased surveillance of dengue cases has increased the number during the past two years. Earlier, private hospitals usually did not report dengue patients and these were often missed in reports.”

He said as now the private hospitals are bound to report the arrival of suspected cases to them, not even a single case had been left unreported. “If a private hospital fails to inform the department about any patient, the department can take action, which may include its removal from list of hospitals empanelled by the government and other such facilities,” said Dr Mohan about the reasons of this sudden increase.

Health officials stated that increased surveillance had helped the department in reducing the number of deaths due to the disease.