PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa capital has reported an increasing number of dengue cases because medical teaching institutions (MTI) report past cases to the health department late.
“There is a backlog of older dengue cases that MTIs are only now reporting. Most patients were tested back in September, but the health department received their reports a month late,” said sources.
Peshawar was highlighted due to documented elevated dengue cases, but the number was untrue as MTIs started informing the department about old cases only recently. This situation created distrust among the people.
On the contrary, cases should have declined because of the cold season incoming, but Peshawar continued to record more cases daily. However, they said that those cases weren’t of new patients but those who were inoculated 30-40 days ago.
The first incident of dengue fever detected in Peshawar was during March, and the vector-borne disease continued to infect people till September.
“The hot season has gone, but Peshawar kept recording a higher number of cases. Peshawar reported 232 cases yesterday, but at least 80 of those cases were from old data,” they added.
“The line-list presented us with all the information on the cases. Name, age, date of onset of symptoms and recovery etc., all have to be recorded, but the MTIs have failed to be punctual in doing so,” they concurred.
The health department was probing the issue and is likely to advise action against responsible personnel for the delayed reporting.
“The MTIs are functional through the Board of Governors where the health department has no jurisdiction, so this could be why they were so lax with sending accurate information on time,” sources assume.
Officials said that the issue is being investigated, and the MTIs like Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC) and Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) will be questioned by authorities.