Karnataka’s Health Department has shut down four city clinics for not reporting Influenza Like Illness (ILI) and Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) cases, which are coronavirus symptoms, a health department official said on Sunday.
“We have closed four Bengaluru clinics for not reporting ILI and SARI cases,” a health department official stated.
The clinics are Namma Clinic at Sahakaranagar, Panchamukhi Specialty Clinic at Peenya 2nd Stage, Mathru Chaya Clinic at Sudhama Nagar in Bommanahalli and Nayak Hospital in Gayathri Nagar.
This comes at a time when ILI patients are testing positive for coronavirus in Bengaluru.
“We gave notice to 17 clinics for not reporting ILI and SARI medical conditions in patients. Out of the 17, 13 reverted that they did not do so far and will start reporting,” said the official.
However, the four named clinics did not revert, prompting the Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner to issue orders to shut them down. According to the official, the clinics failed to adhere to the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1987, the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and others.
All medical facilities and hospitals, including smaller clinics, should report all patients with ILI and SARI symptoms as many COVID-19 patients have them as underlying conditions.
On June 10, more than half (22) out of 42 COVID-19 patients reported in the city turned up at hospitals with ILI symptoms. Three days later, 12 out of 31 cases reported in Bengaluru were ILI patients. This marked a growing trend of ILI patients testing positive for coronavirus in the past week.
Dr Lokesh, the special commissioner and COVID-19 surveillance in-charge from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), told TNM that the rise in ILI cases now suggests the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the city.