Telangana: Dengue fever cases on rise in Adilabad

Adilabad district saw 98 cases from January 1 to September 30 when compared to 192 in 2022 and 189 in 2021

Adilabad: Dengue fever positive cases are on the rise in erstwhile Adilabad district even as the authorities of health department are taking preventive measures to check the menace. However, the fever has become a source of income to private nursing homes for fleecing patients.

Adilabad district saw 98 cases from January 1 to September 30 when compared to 192 in 2022 and 189 in 2021. Mancherial district registered 71 cases in the corresponding period as against 116 in 2022 and 118 in 2021. Similarly, Kumram Bheem Asifabad and Nirmal districts recorded 85 and 43 cases respectively in this year, as per information provided by authorities of the health department.

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Officials said that the number of positive cases significantly shot up in September and October. For instance, Adilabad district saw barely seven cases in August, but 66 cases in a gap of 50 days alone. The spurt in the cases has become a cause for concern to the public. However, authorities have already swung into action to prevent menace.

Adilabad District Medical and Health Officer Dr Narender Rathod told ‘Telangana Today’ that ‘Dry day’ was being conducted every day in places where cases of the fever are reported to control the seasonal disease. A house-to-house survey was being carried out to detect the cases and to take steps to address the menace, he explained.

Narender further said that the private nursing homes were cautioned not to panic the patients citing decline in platelet count and without diagnosing dengue fever. No private and state-run hospital has the equipment to diagnose the deadly fever except for Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in erstwhile Adilabad district. Private hospitals were instructed to send samples of blood if the count of platelets of a patient plummeted.

Meanwhile, certain private hospitals in Mancherial district centre are drawing flak for fleecing the patients under the guise of diagnosing the fever and treating it. The hospitals are charging at least Rs 5,000 per day. They are reportedly panicking the patients whenever platelet count is dropped. Some of them are manipulating the count in order to fear the patients as well.