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People are learning from their mistakes, especially when life is at stake.
Cebu City residents, anxious about dengue fever, are more vigilant now about symptoms like high fever and chills.
More parents are bringing their sick children to the Cebu City Medical Center's (CCMC) at the onset of a fever, just to check if it is caused by dengue, a hospital official said yesterday.
It?s a ?very good sign? that parents are not taking a fever for granted said Dr. Lee James Maratas, CCMC's pediatrics chief.
He said that last year, children admitted in CCMC were already suffering from grade three dengue.
This year, most dengue patients were afflicted with grade 1 dengue.
?Even if the dengue cases are increasing, there are fewer deaths caused by dengue. This is due to the awareness of parents about dengue,? Maratas said.
He said there are four grades or stages of severity of dengue.
In grade one, a patient has low platelets, persistent fever and skin rashes.
In grade 2, there is spontaneous bleeding of the nose, gums and internal organs. In grade 3, patients suffer from low blood pressure.
Grade 4 dengue patients have no pulse and go into shock, Dr. Maratas explained.
The CCMC provides free dengue treatment, including free medicine medicine from the hospital pharmacy.
Dr. Maratas, however, said there are times that the hospital?s antibiotics supply runs out.
Antibiotics are given only when peatients develop other infections.
?The important thing is we have enough supply of IV fluids for dengue patients, which is the main treatment,?Maratas said.
When it comes to blood supply, patients are asked to look for donors and pay P200 for the screening of each donor?s blood sample.
Maratas said the available blood supply in the CCMC is also being used by other departments, making it scarce.
He said they only resort to their blood supply if the patient suffers from severe bleeding.
If the patient?s family wasn?t able to find donors, they have to buy from blood banks.
A patient will have to pay P200 for screening blood donors, Maratas said.
He also said they lack oxygen gauges which cost P9,000 and regulate the amount of oxygen to the patients.
He said their ratio of doctors to dengue patients stand at 1 to 7, instead of the ideal one doctor to four patients.
Maratas said they only have one laboratory to serve several departments so sometimes the test results of hemotocrit and platelet counts for patients are delayed.
As a result, they cannot adjust the IV fluids for dengue patients. There are 24 dengue patients admitted at the CCMC's pediatrics ward.
Maratas said the CCMC will be hiring more medical technicians to speed up the work.
To avoid overcrowding the CCMC, he said parents should bring their children to barangay health centers at the first sign of fever to prevent complications. The health centers can then advise whether the children have to be admitted to the city hospital for treatment.
