Dengue: Patients land in hospitals

ADILABAD: Dengue is causing a huge financial burden to families of patients admitted to corporate or other private hospitals.It has forced some poor families to sell their agriculture lands, buffaloes, goats, etc, and some others to approach moneylenders for clearing the huge medical expanses.More than 21 people have died of dengue in the district and most of them were students aged below 20 years.Dengue is caused by poor sanitation and polluted drinking water in villages and towns.Most of the dengue cases have been reported from Chennur, Mandamari, Kotapally, Vemanpally, Bejjur, Rebenna, Nirmal, Mamada, Utnoor, Narnoor and Jainoor mandals.The patients have been admitted to corporate hospitals at Karimnagar and Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh, and at Yavatmal and Nagpur in neighbouring Maharashtra.On an average, 10 to 15 patients are admitted to these hospitals every day while government hospitals do not have facilities to treat them for a week.“Patients’ blood samples are sent to the laboratory in Hyderabad but the reports are not coming for three days,’’ complained P Shanker of Neradigonda mandal.Suffering from dengue, he went to Hyderabad for treatment.He had to cough up `90,000 to save his life.A marginal farmer holding a 3-acre land, he pledged the land to a moneylender to borrow that amount.In another case, Seram Lakshmaiah from Mamada mandal has paid `1.20 lakh to get himself rid of dengue at a Karimnagar corporate hospital.In Adilabad, many private hospitals charge `1,300 to `2,000 per day for tests and doctor fees, and another `600 to `1,300 for a dengue test.In cases of confirmed dengue, patients are referred to Sanjeevini Superspecialty Hospital at Yavatmal and at Nagpur in Maharashtra.