While the deadly dengue fever have gripped the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, the blood cell separator, incubator and refrigerator used to separate platelets from blood and its storage are out of order at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), the major government hospital handling the dengue patients.
The blood separator is a kind of tubular screener and can be extensively used in separating plasma and other cells of blood. The main feature of the machine is that the rate of broken blood cell can be reduced to the lowest extent.
But the device is out of order at the blood bank of PIMS despite the fact that it is essential in the treatment of dengue patients who need platelets, which are separated from the blood through it.
On the other hand, the platelets separated from the blood cannot survive without a blood incubator, which maintains its temperature around 20 to 22 degree Celsius. If the required temperature is not maintain the platelets die within one to two hours. The blood incubator in the blood bank of PIMS shows the temperature of 30 degree centigrade which is too high for platelets to survive. At a time when dengue virus has hit the city, the incubators are very important as the blood needs a minimum of two days for platelets separation as one whole day is required for blood screening.
Another important equipment refrigerator, used to freeze the platelets for a long period, is also not working as its door cannot be closed tightly to maintain the required temperature.
Platelets are frozen on – 40 to – 80 degree temperature but the refrigerator is not capable of maintaining the temperature necessary to freeze the platelets for a longer duration.
An official in the blood bank told Pakistan Today that they had brought the matter to the notice of the hospital administration but they were not paying any attention towards the important issue at current crucial period when the PIMS was main hospital to treat dengue patients in Islamabad. He claimed that some members of the administration of blood bank had set up a private blood cell separator machine for plasma exchange in the Medical Ward 4 and charged Rs 12,000 to Rs 15,000 from poor patients, but the top management had turned a blind eye to the issue.
It is important to mention that out of order X-ray, CT scan and other machines at the PIMS is routine, a serious matter constantly ignored by the hospital administration. A week ago, an out of order X-ray machine at the PIMS produced a faulty X-ray of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s chest during a check-up. The machine was not working properly and it developed a faulty X-ray of the prime minister.
After a failure to get a reply from the PIMS executive director, when contacted, Deputy Executive Director Dr Zulfiqar Ghauri said, “This issue is not in our knowledge but if any refrigerator is out of order, it doesn’t matter as the others are in the working condition.” He said the blood cell separator machine was not working but the PIMS was managing these separations from a private machine in the Medical Ward 4 on personal expenses but providing it to free of cost to the patients required platelets.
Another 17 hospitalised: The Islamabad Capital Territory Administration said on Monday that at least 17 new patients with dengue symptoms had been admitted to different city hospitals on Sunday.
Islamabad Dengue Surveillance Disease Coordinator in-charge Dr Najeebullah Durrani said that among the new suspected dengue patients, only 8 people were from the capital while remaining 9 had been brought to other cities. He said the city hospitals had all medical treatment facilities for the dengue patients. STAFF REPORT
