Friday, August 19, 2005
Express counter for dengue victims set up in gov't hospitals
HEALTH Secretary Francisco Duque III Thursday ordered all government hospitals nationwide to put up a fast lane that will attend to dengue victims as the number of cases of the mosquito-born disease continues to rise.
"We've instructed government hospitals to make dengue express lanes available to immediately assist incoming patients suspected with dengue)," said Duque."
There are 72 government hospitals in the country, 20 of them in Metro Manila.
Initially, only the San Lazaro General Hospital in Tayuman, Manila and the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) in Cebu City have set up express counter for the dengue patients.
With the setting up of the express lane counters, Duque said health authorities could easily determine if a person suspected of contracting dengue needs to be hospitalized or not.
Dr. Eric Tayag, officer-in-charge of the National Epidemiology Center (NEC) of the DOH, said not every dengue victims needs to be hospitalized as there are certain stages that have to be determined first before a person needs to be confined.
He also said the cost of hospitalization due to dengue is high as it ranges from P2,000 to as high as P80,000.
The DOH has counted 189 deaths due to dengue and 14,142 of such cases as of last August 11 and the health department expects the cases to rise further until November. (MSN/Sunnex)
(August 19, 2005 issue)
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