The Fever Hospital in Hyderabad is a busy sight, with doctors and nurses scurrying about, attending to hundreds of patients.
The straight corridor of the ground floor in one of the buildings of the hospital, which is situated in Nallakunta, is also packed with concerned relatives.
On the left side of this corridor, is the male ward. Some new admits are being administered saline, while nurses are collecting blood samples from others. Most of the patients have a loved one sitting next to their bed.
"Just today, we admitted around 55 people for viral fever. Out of them, nearly five have dengue-like symptoms. We have taken blood samples and are now waiting for the reports. It might take some time," says the head nurse in the general ward.
The female ward is situated a floor above the male ward. Two dengue patients are being treated here. One of the dengue patients, Lakshmi, is a 40-year-old house maker and is expected to get discharged soon.
“Around two weeks ago she became very weak and collapsed one night,” says Shiva, Lakshmi’s son, “We rushed her to Durgabai Deshmukh Hospital. They ran some tests for three days.”
After three days, Lakshmi tested positive for dengue, and was shifted to the Fever Hospital.
Lakshmi, one of the dengue patients in Fever Hospital
“I was really worried and I hardly left the hospital from morning to night. As I am not allowed to stay in the female ward at night, I used to go home and quickly return in the morning,” Shiva added.
Now that doctors have said that his mother will be fine and discharged soon, Shiva can breathe a sigh of relief.
Superintendent Dr K Shankar says none of the dengue cases currently in the hospital were too serious and no deaths due to dengue had been reported from the hospital yet.
"However, as many as 666 viral fever cases and nearly 106 cases of dengue were reported in the hospital this month. On Monday, 30 patients suspected to have dengue were admitted to the hospital," Dr Shankar adds.
The outpatient count in hospital has mounted to more than 1,200 people. “Last month more than 200 dengue cases were reported here,” says one of the nurses.
“Though the dengue cases are increasing, we are managing well here as no deaths have been reported so far,” she adds.
With the increase in viral fever cases and dengue cases in the hospital, the workload on the nurses has also increased. As there is no vaccine or any specific medicine to treat dengue, the Superintendent says that the hospital is taking extra care to treat the patients suffering from dengue.
The Superintendent added that heavy rains in Hyderabad last month saw a large number of admissions in the wards, and he hoped that the number of dengue cases would not go up.
Twenty nine-year-old K Rajni from Sainagar Colony in Saroornagar died on Friday of Dengue Shock Syndrome soon after she gave birth to twin babies.
On Monday, 22-year-old Sahera Begum from Singareni Colony in Champapet, died of dengue haemorrhage fever, taking the total number of dengue deaths in Telangana to 20.
As frequent fogging carried out by GHMC, it's not enough to control mosquitoes in the city, even the State government is setting up medical camps to provide treatment at colonies and creating awareness among the public.
Lalitha Kumari, Director of public health and family welfare says, “Dengue cannot be controlled, but breeding of mosquitoes can be. It is not the sole responsibility of the health department but all other departments like local bodies and municipalities also. The potholes and fresh water collection in urban areas has increased which is the main cause of dengue, which should be taken care by the local bodies.”
Recently, GHMC has said that strict action would be taken over water stagnation on city roads. GHMC commissioner B Janardhan Reddy, said that if any commercial establishment was found responsible for stagnant water on roads, its trade license would be cancelled.