PANAJI
Imagine going to the Urban health center (UHC), sick with dengue symptoms and anxious, to collect your blood test results only to be told your blood samples taken the previous day have not even been tested because the equipment is broken down.
This is precisely what several patients and their relatives have been facing in the last few days at the Panaji UHC amidst the ongoing spectre of dengue.
Several patients who had their blood samples taken for the dengue test and also platelet count and other investigations had to return home angry and disappointed because the staff there did not inform them of the faulty equipment and quietly extracted their blood samples.
According to one account of a patient's relative, the staff expressed their helplessness and even suggested that the tests be done in private pathology labs.
Meanwhile, although the steep surge of 'suspected' and confirmed cases of dengue of August-September has seen a deep the threat of the disease still looms as several people in Panaji and surrounding areas which was one of the hot-spots are reporting sick with symptoms.
In one case, a class IX student of a reputed city school, is reported to be critical undergoing treatment at the Goa Medical College and Hospital at Bambolim.
