Singapore Hospitals Delay Surgeries to Fight Dengue
Date: 09-Sep-05
Country: SINGAPORE
Singapore has reported 8,854 cases of dengue fever this year -- nearly double the number from the same period last year when cases on the island rocketed to a 10-year high.
The disease has claimed eight lives since the start of this year.
"We have postponed or cancelled 114 non-urgent procedures to meet the demand of in-patient beds," a spokeswoman for Changi General Hospital told Reuters.
Another public hospital, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, will also delay its non-urgent operations to cope with the burgeoning dengue cases.
TTSH, where most dengue patients are admitted, has about 90 to 110 dengue patients staying in its wards each day. Dengue patients now account for about 10 percent of the hospital's total patient population.
Although a raft of measures has been introduced to eliminate mosquito breeding sites, dengue infections have continued to swell -- prompting the government to call for public effort to halt the spread of the disease.
The health ministry said there were 546 new dengue cases reported in the week ending September 4, rising from the 493 cases a week earlier and 414 two weeks ago.
Dengue is carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which transmits the virus that causes the fever. The virus can cause fever, severe headache, joint and muscular pains, vomiting and rashes.
Dengue has become a major international public health concern. The World Health Organisation issued an alert in September 2004 after a resurgence of cases in the region.
Singapore's neighbours, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, are also struggling to control the disease, for which there is no commercially ready vaccine.
