News
Dengue epidemic raging, many public hospitals unable to do FBC tests
View(s):By Kumudini Hettiarachchi
With a dengue epidemic raging in the country, many major state hospitals are facing a huge crisis in monitoring patients with a mandatory but basic test, the Sunday Times learns.
“No Full Blood Counts (FBC) are being performed here and at many state hospitals due to reagents not being available,” confirmed Consultant Paediatrician, Dr. LakKumar Fernando, who is the Head of the Centre for Clinical Management of Dengue & Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever (CCDDHF) in Negombo.
He said an FBC was a basic test needed in monitoring dengue patients and was essential when the country was facing a dengue epidemic, with numbers hitting a new high.
There have been 76,000 dengue cases in 2022 (as of Friday, December 30), when compared to 36,000 last year (2021). At present, Colombo, Gampaha, Kalmunai and Puttalam have been identified as vulnerable areas.
“Usually, if there is a suspicion that a patient is suffering from dengue, an FBC is done once a day, but if the platelets drop below 200,000, this test needs to be done twice a day. If there is a platelet-count drop below 100,000, it is vital to do an FBC two to three times a day to ensure that the patient’s condition will not deteriorate,” Dr. Fernando said.
He said he was concerned that many poor patients were now being asked to get the FBCs done in the private sector.
A patient’s relative, in the case of a child it would often be the mother, would have to take a blood sample and rush to a nearby private laboratory. Most of them do not have the money for such a test which costs a minimum of Rs. 500. The running around causes immense worry and anxiety to them in addition to being concerned about their sick child.
Even in the medical and paediatric wards of the Negombo General Hospital, no FBCs are being performed, it is learnt.
An FBC is a common test which provides important information about cells which are in the blood. These cells include red blood cells (containing haemoglobin, a protein that carries oxygen to all body tissues); white blood cells (which fight germs and control the immune process); and platelets (which aid in the blood-clotting process).
In November, an internal note from the Castle Street Hospital Director to the staff of this premier maternal health centre, instructed that no samples should be sent to the laboratory for FBCs until further notice, as there were no reagents. His note went viral on social media.
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