Many pvt hosps in city make dengue, malaria tests must for fever patients

kolkata: With a sharp rise in the number of dengue and malaria cases in the past one and half month, many private hospitals in the city have made dengue and malaria tests mandatory for all the patients admitted with fever.

According to sources, many of the people who have received admission in hospitals with prolonged fever were eventually found to have been affected with dengue.

In rare occasions in such cases, people were infected with Covid. A majority of the dengue patients admitted in hospitals have mild symptoms. People who got admission with fever thought that they might have been infected with Covid but eventually they were found positive with dengue. There were instances where people with fever preferred hospitalization with an apprehension that they might be infected with Covid.

"People are rushing to hospitals without waiting for Covid tests. We have made dengue and malaria tests mandatory for fever patients. Many are rushing to hospitals with fever and associated symptoms with a fear of Covid. Most of them test negative for Covid but positive for dengue," said a senior official of a private hospital.

State Health department has urged all the civic bodies in North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas and also the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to strengthen surveillance against dengue and malaria and other vector borne diseases as the number of infected cases are still on the rise mostly in the urban areas.

According to sources 3,000 dengue cases have been reported in the state since January this year.

North 24-Parganas has been the highest contributor of dengue cases this year followed by Kolkata, South 24-Parganas and Howrah.

All the civic bodies have been requested to conduct dengue tests on a random basis in the affected pockets where there has been a surge in the past few days.

The civic authorities were also asked to strengthen awareness drives in various localities to make people aware as to what steps they have to take to check the infection.

The awareness drive will be continued till the end of December.