The Times of India              01.11.2013

Corporation issues notice to hospital where child died of dengue

CHENNAI: In a move that is likely to make doctors think twice about reporting a dengue death, Chennai Corporation has issued a notice to Ezhil Hospital, where a three-year-old died of suspected dengue.

Accusing the hospital of "manipulation and falsification" of records, the corporation said the staff had not followed the necessary protocol to notify the disease under the under Tamil Nadu Public Health Act, 1939.

In a statement, the corporation said the zonal health officer at Tondiarpet was notified about the case on Monday, a day after the child, P Dharshini, was admitted to hospital.

"The hospital did not report the admission of the case to corporation as per Tamil Nadu Public Health Act 1939, which mandates that any admission of the disease needs to be notified immediately," the body said.

Doctors and public health activists said when a patient is brought in, treatment is top priority. "It makes sense to pull up the hospital if it kept quiet about the death, without notifying the corporation at all. But that is not what happened, When a patient is brought in, it is only natural that treatment is given top priority," said Dr S Elango, former director of public health and preventive medicine.

Doctors at the hospital said the child was brought in late on Sunday night and the ELISA test was done the following day. The medical officer was notified immediately after the results were out on Monday - a fact acknowledged by the corporation.

The case was investigated by city health officer, an epidemiologist, and director of Communicable Diseases Hospital on Wednesday, a day after the zonal medical officer made enquiries on the death.

In response to TOI's article quoting hospital staff saying they were harassed by the officials, the corporation said it was the hospital that tried to scuttle itsinvestigation.

"The hospital authorities denied access to their lab saying the keys had gone missing. The instrument was made available for inspection only the following day," a corporation official said, adding that the hospital had not maintained a proper register on the ELISA test.

It said the child had fever for 20 days and chances of death due to dengue are "very low" after so many days.

Doctors have taken up cudgels saying staff at private hospitals are often arm-twisted into silence while reporting dengue or swine flu cases. "This has been happening for years. They force private hospitals and labs into silence. If there is a death, the government should be honest and come out with the real statistics," said Dr G R Ravindranath of Doctors' Association for Social Equality.

At the Chennai Corporation council meet on Thursday, DMK councillors were evicted from the council hall when they tried to raise the issue of Dharshini's death.