Advisor to the Chief Minister on Health Khawaja Salman Rafiq has directed doctors at private hospitals to send regular reports on dengue patients they examine to the Health Department.
He was presiding over a meeting of principals of medical colleges and medical superintendents of teaching hospitals at the King Edward Medical University on Saturday.
Rafiq told the administration of government hospitals to record the complete addresses and contact numbers of dengue patients on the admission forms, instead of mentioning only the general neighbourhood. “Mentioning the locality creates problems in terms of identifying areas where fogging and sprays are required,” he said.
Participants of the meeting also discussed the medical treatment and case management of dengue patients. King Edward Medical University Vice Chancellor Faisal Masood said that teaching hospitals should follow the SOPs for dengue fever patients prescribed two years ago.
He said that the Dengue Experts Advisory Group was in the process of training more doctors to deal with the situation.
The participants decided that medical officers would not discharge any dengue patients without the consultants’ advice. All patients exhibiting serious symptoms of the disease would also be admitted.
Rafiq said that the discharge slips for dengue patients must mention the disease diagnosed by doctors.
“We can reduce the mortality rate by improving clinical management,” said Rafiq.
Special Health Secretary Babar Hayat Tarar told medical superintendents to furnish a weekly duty roster of senior registrars deputed in dengue wards on every Saturday. He said that senior doctors at government hospitals must examine dengue patients under treatment in private hospitals and send a report to the Health Department daily.
Health Director General Zahid Pervaiz, Allama Iqbal Medical College Principal Mahmood Shaukat, Jinnah Hospital Medical Superintendent Abdul Rauf, Services Institute of Medical Sciences Principal Muhammad Hafeez Butt, Services Hospital Medical Superintendent Rehana Malik, Fatima Jinnah Medical College Principal Sardar Farrukh Imam, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Medical Superintendent Umer Farooq Baloch, PGMI Principal Anjum Habib Vohra, Lahore General Hospital Medical Superintendent Amjad Shahzad, Mayo Hospital Acting Medical Superintendent Abdul Majeed Chaudhry and Associate Professor Khalid Mahmood Khan of the FJMC were among the participants.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 17th, 2013.