(de Ware Tijd) PARAMARIBO – Four out of six patients with a viral condition in Diakonessenhuis have dengue. Last weekend, ten cases of viral infection were admitted to the Academisch Ziekenhuis Paramaribo, AZP, [University Hospital]. In the meantime the cases keep flooding other hospitals, forcing authorities to call in the help of the Military Hospital. The Nickerie regional hospital conducted 100 lab tests in 2011, 20 of which were positive for dengue. In January 2012, 12 cases have been uncovered so far. s‘Lands Hospitaal had 40 lab test requests between December and January, four of which tested positive, while the AZP lab had 100 positive cases. Speaker of Parliament Jennifer Simons, recently also brought down by dengue, was able to leave the hospital yesterday. Labs and hospitals have used up all their available tests. People who have recently tried the Bureau for Public Health, BOG, have been turned away. Jerry Slijngaard, coordinator with the National Coordination Center for Disasters (NCCR) says his organization is ready to take action should the situation worsen. The existing dengue response plan calls for putting up emergency hospitals and fight mosquito populations. Slijngaard assured de Ware Tijd that the NCCR has sound financial backing enabling it to do its work. Several doctors have pointed out that the people with an Asian background are prone to the disease. John Codrington who heads the AZP lab says that the vulnerable groups have to be identified. Dengue becomes fatal if there are other physical conditions in the body. Vulnerable groups include the elderly, children and sickle cell patients. Codrington warns about the lacking education programs for these groups. ‘We’ve warned some time ago that danger is looming, but our warning has been trivialized and the authorities have failed to take action. Authorities disguised the epidemic by naming it a looming epidemic. Once people start to get sick we cannot fight it because there is no medicine for dengue.’ Codrington blames the authorities for their lack of proactive attitude referring to them as ‘echo managers’ who react when it is already too late. Both Health Minister Celcius Wateberg and BOG director Lesly Resida decline to confirm whether there is an epidemic or not. Heath experts, however, say it is high time epidemiologists say exactly when there is a normal situation, increased threat and when the situation has gone out of hand.
