Hyderabad: While seasonal diseases in Hyderabad have increased by 30 percent in August, state-run hospital authorities in the city seem to be unwilling to share individual data on the number of cases.
Niloufer Hospital authorities in particular when visited by Siasat.com, were reluctant to even share current figures regarding the number of cases.
When Siasat.com contacted the superintendent of Niloufer Hospital, the official refused to provide details or data on the cases of seasonal diseases being reported from across Hyderabad at the hospital, citing a verbal order. While it is not clear as to why the data is not being shared, a source mentioned that the unofficial order has come from the higher-ups and that all such data will be given to the director of public health instead of being shared with the media.
However, other government hospitals in Hyderabad shared partial data on dengue fever. An official from Gandhi Hospital said, “There are 22 fever cases now out of which five are dengue positive, one malaria and there are no cases of typhoid or norovirus.” The official however did not specify the number of seasonal disease cases reported at the hospital since July.
Similarly, an official from the Fever Hospital at Nallakunta said that there are three to five cases of dengue fever at the hospital at present. “Since July, 45 cases of dengue have been reported at the hospital,” the official added.
As per the official data, Telangana has reported a total of 6,405 dengue cases up to August 31, according to the director of public health and family welfare. The state conducted 1.11 lakh tests, resulting in a positivity rate of 5.7 percent.
As of August 21, there were 4,648 dengue cases, indicating that 1,757 new cases were recorded in the last 10 days of August, accounting for 27.4 percent of the total cases.
Data from the DPHFW shows that the districts with high-risk for dengue are Hyderabad, Suryapet, Medchal Malkajgiri, Khammam, Nizamabad, Nalgonda, Rangareddy, Jagtial, Sangareddy and Warangal.
There has also been a rise in chikungunya cases. The number increased from 106 on August 21 to 178 on August 31, an increase of 72 cases. Of the 3,614 samples tested for chikungunya, the positivity rate stands at 5 percent.
Additionally, there has been a slight rise in malaria cases, with the number increasing from 188 on August 21 to 200 on August 31, a growth of 12 cases. The total samples tested are 23.06 lakh leading to a positivity rate of 0.008 percent.
As part of the ongoing fever survey by the health department, 1.72 crore households have been visited, 5.29 crore individuals have been screened, and 3.05 lakh fever cases have been identified as of August 31, the data revealed.
