Kolkata: State health department has directed all the hospitals in the state to upload treatment details of dengue and malaria patients on the department's website so that the state government can assess the situation at the ground level.
Around 616 new dengue cases have been detected across the state on Saturday. As many as 696 dengue patients have been admitted in government hospitals.
Dengue and malaria are notifiable diseases so all the hospitals have to report cases under their treatment on a regular basis from now. Health Secretary Narayan Swaroop Nigam, Director of Health Services (DHS) Dr Sidhartha Niyogi and other senior health department officials held a virtual meeting with the hospitals on Saturday. State government has already set up a portal that can be accessed through the health department's website where details of all dengue and malaria cases have to be reported regularly.
"All symptomatic cases are to be tested for dengue and malaria through confirmatory tests like Elisa and NSI. State government is also looking into capacity building of private hospitals in the districts. Private hospitals can seek support from Swasthya Bhavan if there is any requirement. Dengue and malaria cases may be reported till end October and early days of November," said a senior health official.
Health officials said that as a large number of dengue and malaria cases is being reported, the State will not restrict those tests but all private labs have been asked to regulate pricing to a reasonable limit or else the government will intervene.
During Saturday's meeting, all the private hospitals have been urged to regulate out-of-pocket expenses for the patients getting admitted with dengue and malaria.
"Standard treatment protocols, as laid down by the state health department, have to be followed. The Health Secretary pointed out that there have been reports of non-compliance with protocols," an official said. The State government has already dedicated beds for dengue patients in various government hospitals. The number of critical care beds have been reserved for dengue patients in these hospitals. Around four hospitals in the city have been directed to conduct dengue tests round the clock, as there is a spike in dengue cases in some pockets.
All the laboratories and government hospitals will also have to share data relating to dengue, malaria tests with Swasthya Bhawan on a daily basis.