NOIDA: The health department has confirmed the first two cases of dengue in Gautam Budh Nagar this year. This is despite the Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) and the Child PGI — both government health facilities — confirming at least 11 cases of the vector-borne disease in their own labs.
On several occasions, the government had described the labs of the two hospitals as efficient for testing any kind of samples. Sources said if the dengue cases reported by these two hospitals and private facilities were taken into account, the tally could stand somewhere near 15. Two cases have been cross-notified by private hospitals in neighbouring Ghaziabad.
“We have strict instructions that only those cases that have been reported positive by the central lab of the District Hospital would be confirmed by us. The 11 cases at GIMS and Child PGI were confirmed by their own testing centres and the reports were sent to us. The two cases cross-notified by Ghaziabad were also reported by private hospitals,” said Rajesh Sharma, the district malaria officer in Noida.
The central lab at the District Hospital, officials said, had received 42 samples for dengue testing from various health facilities. It confirmed only two of them. All private hospitals have been told they cannot declare a patient dengue positive unless the District Hospital confirms them.
Sharma said though the cases registered by other hospitals hadn’t been confirmed by the health department, the authorities are following all protocols to maintain hygiene in the localities where they have been reported.
“We have done fogging and anti-larvae spraying in all these areas. Surveillance teams are also going around raising awareness and checking on those with fever,” Sharma said.
Noida so far has confirmed three cases of scrub typhus and 23 of malaria. This is the first time in six years that scrub typhus cases have been reported in the district. However, there has been no new case in the past one week since the three were reported.
While malaria cases have been low so far, several officials fear the numbers might increase because of rain. Incessant showers over the past week have led to waterlogging and puddles in parks and other open spaces in the city — a breeding ground for mosquitoes.
