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Premier Dengue Centre facing crisis with staff shortage
The lack of junior doctors is likely to toll the death knell for the Dengue Centre at the Negombo General Hospital, from which a large number of critically-ill patients have been able to walk out after treatment, since its opening on June 16. Medical staffing has reached crisis level at Negombo’s ‘Centre for Clinical Management of Dengue and Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever’ the Sunday Times understands, work being barely managed with only six junior doctors.
For round-the-clock management of dengue patients near death’s door, at least three junior doctors need to be available all the time, working on a shift basis. This would entail a minimum requirement of 12 junior doctors, it is learnt. Currently, however, there are only six, with that number expected to drop to four in about two weeks and three in about a month, leaving the centre in deep trouble. In about three months, two more of the three doctors may leave for post-graduate studies, with only one being left at the centre. Assigning doctors to the centre at that time would be futile because dengue management training is arduous and the centre may have to be closed, the Sunday Times understands.
Unfortunately, the troubles of the Negombo Dengue Centre come in the wake of the dengue deaths rising to 60 elsewhere in the country, in the first eight months of this year (2013). Since its opening on June 16, the centre has been able to save the lives of 250 very-ill patients, both adults and children within a short span of 2½ months. Some of these cases with complications had been transferred to the centre from private hospitals in Colombo, providing ample proof about its successful management of patients.
A recent patient has been a newborn sent from the state De Soysa Maternity Hospital, Colombo, just six days after birth. The infant wracked by dengue who had a platelet count of only 15,000 had been managed and treated by the dedicated staff of the centre. This had prevented a young life from being nipped in the bud.
The Sunday Times understands that even though many requests have been made to the Health Ministry for adequate staff and assurances have been forthcoming, no action has yet been taken to assign an adequate number of junior doctors to manage the centre.
The 17-bed state-of-the-art centre, built at a cost of Rs. 55 million is believed to be unique as it is geared to manage both adults and children. It has also been acclaimed as a first by many.
All “vitals” such as blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation and temperature of patients accommodated here are monitored by individual machines attached to each bed, while infusion pumps combat fluid leakage after accurate electronic calculation of individual needs. This is critical in the management of Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever (DHF) cases.
Health Sec. assures doc. shortfall would be met
Paying a tribute to the Negombo Dengue Centre with its zero-death record and Consultant Paediatrician Dr. LakKumar Fernando who was instrumental in setting it up, Health Ministry Additional Secretary Dr. Amal Harsha de Silva assured that urgent measures would be taken to meet the shortfall of doctors.
“I know the service being provided there and how the doctors at the centre work. Even when I visit at 1 or 2 in the morning, if there is a bad patient, the doctors are around that patient,” said Dr. de Silva, pointing out that the ministry needs to strengthen the centre.
The vision is to make it a regional training hub for doctors from Pakistan and India and even countries such as Thailand and Singapore, he added.