Fever cases rise; Kozhikode faces shortage of doctors

KOZHIKODE: The rural parts of the district are reeling under increasing number of fever and diarrhea cases. In Vadakara district hospital, on Saturday alone, 2,378 patients sought treatment at the outpatient section. Of these 51 are affected with fever and 28 have diarrhea. This week, three people, including two children had died of diarrhea.

On Friday, another child was diagnosed with diarrhea and was referred to Government Medical College Hospital. After the spread of monsoon-related diseases, the district hospital is flooding with patients, which is already reeling under acute staff shortage. As more children are being taken for treatment, sometimes the two paediatricians are also not available for duty.

“The district hospital suffers acute staff shortage. For the nearly 2,00 patients coming on an average, here we have only 27 doctors. In the case of paediatricians, though we have two posts of doctors, the same doctors have to be allotted for the court, post-mortem, immunisation and ICU duties. In the case of emergency, we rely on a casualty medical officer. The staff shortage should be solved first to tackle the crowd at the hospital,” said RMO Prajeesh Kumar M.C.

Even the critically-ill patients are forced to wait for hours in the queue due to the heavy rush at the hospitals. In the last two days, nearly 400 children were brought to the outpatient section, with various ailments. Similar issues are being faced in Koyilandy taluk hospital also. From Monday to Friday, nearly 20,000 patients sought treatment here.

Out of them, 500 are with fever, and 300 with jaundice. In Mukkom, people are demanding a fever clinic as the number of dengue cases reported from the area is on the rise. Last year, dengue claimed six lives there. This time, the disease has been reported from Kodanchery, Puduppadi and Mukkom municipality.