Hospitals post extra staff on duty to handle dengue patients

Jaipur, Oct 5 (UNI) With the rise in dengue cases in Rajasthan, the government hospitals here are posting extra medical staff including nursing students on duty to handle the patient overload.

The Sawai Mansingh Hospital and J K Lon Hospital here, where free dengue tests are available, have been receiving over 200 patients per day over the past two days.

With the hospital staff grappling to handle the huge number of patients, it has been decided to post 10 more nursing staff in SMS hospital and five more in J K Lon hospital. Five additional techinicians have also been posted in SMS central laboratory. Two more medical officers each are also being put on duty.

Third year nursing students are also being posted in the wards to handle the crisis. The leaves of doctors, nursing staff and technicians of SMS hospital have been cancelled following the outbreak of the disease. The hospital staff have been asked to be on duty on Sundays from 9 am till 1 pm.

The state governmernt has officially reported seven dengue deaths and 20 malarial deaths in the last two months. Health minister Dr Digamber Singh had, however, said in a press conference on tuesday that the situation is under control.

Mr Singh had said while 193 people have tested positive for dengue in the state, 76 of them were from the state capital Jaipur.

He had also confirmed seven dengue deaths in the state.

UNI RRT AKJ HT1357