Refuting rumours that dengue is spreading inside the Kalubowila hospital following the death of two staff members of the hospital, its Director Asela Gunawardena yesterday said that only six dengue related deaths were reported from the hospital of the 4,300 dengue patients they treated last year.
“Of the 4,300 patients we treated for dengue last year, only six died - two of whom were staff members,” he said.
“They contracted the disease in the course of their duties, although we had taken precautions to prevent in-hospital infections in our three medical wards having cleared all breeding sites, and distributed repellents and disinfectants to all wards. However, the hospital is extremely overcrowded and we don’t have a separate ward for dengue patients,” Dr. Gunawardena said.
He said despite the bed shortage, overcrowded wards and only half the cadre of nurses, the hospital continues to treat many suspected dengue patients with the same zeal that originally inspired him to follow his medical career.
He said the Teaching Hospital, the second largest in Colombo, caters to patients from Dehiwala, Maharagama, Kirulupone, Mt Lavinia, Wellawatte and Ratmalana while some from as far as Kalutara also come.
“Our OPDs are overflowing with patients. From January 1 to 21 we treated over 550 positive and suspected dengue patients and around 100 patients are admitted daily to our three medical wards where the bed strength is 250. The number could rise to around 1,000,” he added.
The acute shortage of trained nursing staff was another of the hospital’s woes. According to the hospital’s cadre there should be 1,100 nurses.
“ However, we have only 550, less than half the number. We also need more medical lab technologists (MLTs) at the OPD lab since we only have two for the day shift and one for the night when admissions spike”.
With the OPD currently catering to between 2,500-3,000 patients daily, he said a Rapid Diagnostic Testing lab had been set up at the OPD to deal with the increasing number of samples requiring antigen tests. If antibodies testing is needed, the samples are sent to the Medical Research Institute.
“But this is mainly a clinical diagnosis and we are not hundred percent dependent on these tests as all our medical staff have been trained to diagnose dengue symptoms and encouraged to start early treatment,” he said.