Services of the medical health and family welfare department are hampered by shortage of the Enzyme linked Immuno Sorbent Assay (ElISA) kits which are used as confirmatory test for dengue in the samples of suspected patients of the disease.
It is learnt that due to rush of patients for the confirmatory test of dengue the kits of ElISA are in short supply however the district health department maintains that the kits of ElISA are available in sufficient numbers. The claim of the department on availability of kits appears wrong as no new ElISA report of the samples collected has arrived in last one week.
The department last released the report of ElISA tests on September 30 when the figure of positive cases reached 301. It is learnt that the department has ordered 10 kits of ElISA from a company in Delhi which are yet to arrive in Dehradun due to which the processing of testing the samples is halted.
When contacted the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Dehradun, Dr S P Agarwal claimed that the kits are available and more would be sent to the hospitals if required. He said that the department is in total control of the situation on dengue front.
The District vector Borne Diseases officer J P Bahunguna told The Pioneer that on Wednesday 157 samples were collected by the department out of which 47 proved positive on rapid test. The district health department has collected 6636 samples from suspected patients of Dengue in this season so far out of which 1059 cases were found positive in rapid test and 301 were found positive in ElISA test. Bahuguna said that the department has also collected samples of 41 labourers working at the site of under construction building of Doon medical college in Patelnagar area after symptoms of the disease were reported in them.