Gadwal: The district health department, under the guidance of District Medical and Health Officer Dr. S.K. Siddappa, recently visited several private hospitals and laboratories in Jogulamba Gadwal district. The purpose of these visits was to discuss ways to tackle seasonal diseases more effectively. During these visits, officials shared important recommendations with the administrators of private hospitals and lab technicians.
The district health officials advised private lab technicians not to declare cases of malaria, dengue, and chikungunya as positive based solely on the Kit Method Test. They emphasized that if a case tests positive using this method, it should be sent to TD-Hub for further confirmation. At TD-Hub, dengue cases should be confirmed using the ELISA test, malaria cases through the slide method, and chikungunya cases via the RTPCR test. Only after these confirmatory tests show positive results can the cases be declared as positive, and only qualified doctors should provide treatment.
Additionally, the officials instructed all private diagnostic centers to clearly display the names of the tests they offer along with their price lists. They also emphasized the importance of displaying registration certificates, biomedical certificates, and pollution certificates at every private health facility.
Furthermore, the officials stressed the need for fire safety measures, such as fixing fire safety cylinders to the walls of labs. This is crucial for ensuring the safety of both patients and staff.
Private hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, polyclinics, labs, and diagnostic centers in the district were also directed to report details of cases related to seasonal diseases, such as malaria, dengue, chikungunya, and acute diarrheal diseases, to the district health department office daily using the Annexure-1 form.
Lastly, all private health facility administrators were reminded to maintain records according to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). Failure to do so could result in action being taken under the Clinical Establishment Act-2010 and its 2011 rules.
The district health department team that conducted these visits included K. Madhusudhan Reddy (i/c Dy.Demo), M. Ramakrishnudu (CHO), and Chinni Krishna.
