Doctors at PIMS discharge dengue suspect

In a clear show of apathy towards the plight of patients, the doctors at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) discharged a suspected dengue patient a day before the National Institute of Health (NIH) confirmed his blood sample as dengue positive.
A 56-year old Javed Iqbal, who was referred from the Shifa International to the PIMS on Tuesday last week, was having fever with low platelets count, but initially he was refused to be admitted as the doctors were not sure whether he was a dengue patient.
However, he was later admitted in the hospital as the doctors were suspected that he had been suffering from dengue and his blood sample was sent to the NIH for serology but strangely the concerned doctor did not bother to wait for confirmation and discharged him on Sunday, a day before they received the result from NIH.
Javed was undergoing treatment in the isolation ward where four beds were available for the positive cases of dengue fever.
When contacted, PIMS Deputy Director Indoor Dr Robina Kamran said, “We discharged the patient as his condition was sustainable.” Talking about the serology test result which confirmed him as dengue patient, she said, “I think the dengue virus had not affected the patient seriously.”
An official in NIH was of the view that the spread of dengue fever might be possible in twin cities as a confirmed patient entered the city and died a few days back. Earlier, the NIH had issued guidelines for the prevention and control of the virus in all health centres of capital city after the monsoon season.
The first dengue fever case of the season, reported at the Benazir Bhutto Hospital, was a resident of Nowshera, some three weeks back. He had complaints of fever and headache along with extreme joint and muscle pain and was shifted to the Shifa International Hospital where he was confirmed as a dengue patient the NIH. Later, he expired at the Holy Family Hospital.
A NIH official was of the view that as the monsoon season was coming to end in a few weeks, there were strong prospects of dengue virus outbreak in Islamabad, for which precautionary measures had already been taken.