Dengue Alert

CEBU City has the most number of dengue cases in the Central Visayas, according to the health department.

The latest Department of Health in Central Visayas' Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (Resu) dengue update showed a sharp rise in dengue cases with 2,436 cases and 24 deaths recorded from January 1 to Aug. 8.

Cebu City registered 382 cases and nine deaths in this count.

The number of dengue cases recorded is seven percent higher compared to the same period last year when there were only 2,275 cases and 70 deaths.

Next to Cebu City is Lapu-Lapu City with 286 cases and five deaths followed by Dumaguete City in Negros Oriental is third with 268 cases and no deaths.

In the meantime, Cebu City Medical Center doctors denied accusations that they did not conduct blood transfusion to a four-year-old boy who later died of dengue.

Dr. James Lee Maratas who treated the boy from barangay Guadalupe said a doctor set the blood donor for a blood transfusion on Aug. 12. The boy died dawn that day.

The boy had undergone three blood transfusions with blood from the CCMC.

Dr. Myrna Go, CCMC chief of hospital said they had all the records in the hospital and they can identify which doctors are in charge of each patient.

She asked Irene Dakay, the mother of another four year old girl from barangay Camputhaw, another dengue fatality who claimed they were not treated well, to go to her office so that she could identify the persons involved and take appropriate actions if necessary.

The other doctors would have wanted to explain their side but they were attending an important meeting yesterday afternoon. /Editorial Assistant Ma. Bernadette A. Parco and Reporter Marian Z. Codilla