KARACHI, Oct 27: The city government’s health department has requested the Sindh health department to divert to it a big chunk of the special grant of Rs20 million approved by the Sindh chief minister recently for taking dengue relief initiatives in the province.

Sources in the city government said the executive district officer (health) argued that since the CDGK had to fulfil considerable financial obligations in the wake of dengue epidemic in the city, it must get the lion’s share in the amount earmarked for preparedness and relief initiatives for the mosquito-borne dengue fever.

The money being sought from the Sindh government would be spent on the procurement of some costly equipment required for a centralised blood bank of the city government, said a source in the city government’s health department.

It was learnt that the CDGK’s health department after the dengue epidemic outbreak in 2006, which persisted for about six months in the city affecting 4,750 individuals and claiming 50 lives, had decided to set up a central blood bank to deal with emergency needs during outbreaks of diseases or in case of accidents and disasters. However, things could not shape up accordingly due to the inadequate funds and changing priorities of the government.

According to the initial plan of the CDGK’s health executives, the bank was to be made functional in the middle of 2007 at a cost of Rs130 million to provide, among other facilities, three different safe blood component packs to people on subsidised rates. The site for the project was the office of the defunct DMC (East) near the Quaid-i-Azam’s mausoleum, as was defined by the health EDO at that time.

A source said a couple of machines and refrigerators had already been bought for the planned bank, but still some costly purchases were to be made for the provision of a good store of safe and separated-out blood components, packed cells, platelets and plasmas needed to fight infections, help heal wounds and meet other medical needs.

In its latest communication to the Sindh health department, the CDGK’s health department has called for allocating Rs15 million, out of the Rs20 million promised for the entire province, to it as it had to pay significant amounts to hospitals for the supply of platelets to the dengue-positive patients.

Health EDO Dr A.D. Sajnani told Dawn that his department planned to buy a high-standard cell-separator for the preparation of mega-platelet units with the amount he hoped to get from the chief minister’s dengue initiative allocations.

Had the CDGK set up its bank within the stipulated period (June 2007), it could not only have run the institution on a no-profit basis, but could also have made its blood packs available to the people at almost half of the market price, the source said, adding that during the last three months, the city government’s health department supplied more than 90 bags of platelets to dengue patients admitted to its Abbasi Shaheed Hospital free.

Like previous years, the CDGK is buying the mega platelet units from private concerns at about Rs9,000 per unit. However, the private blood bank is now unwilling to sell the platelets on old rates as the accessories imported for the purpose are more expensive after the recent devaluation of the rupee.

According to the data acquired from the Dengue Monitoring Cell of the Sindh health department on Monday, dengue patients admitted to various government and private hospitals, in the last week of August and after, were given 93 mega platelet units.

The Sindh government-run Civil Hospital and the Services Hospital provided eight units, while the city district government’s Abbasi Shaheed Hospital gave 81 units to its dengue-positive patients. The National Institute of Child Health and two private-sector hospitals transfused about four mega units of platelets.

The hospitals are still receiving dengue suspected patients from eight to nine daily, two to four of whom are tested positive for the disease. Till Oct 26, 1,024 patients had been admitted to 20 government and private hospitals, of whom 358 have been found positive for dengue fever, while four have died of the disease so far, said Dr Shakeel A. Mullick, the head of the dengue monitoring cell.