Hospitals overwhelmed by suspected dengue cases

Santo Domingo.- Dozens of children and adolescents with fever symptoms are flocking to the emergency departments of the capital’s main children’s hospitals, as parents fear that they may be suffering from dengue fever.

The deputy director of Robert Reid Cabral Children’s Hospital, Clemente Terrero, said that they had admitted 41 children with probable dengue diagnoses yesterday, including two in intensive care.

She said that on Saturday five children with suspected dengue were admitted, but pointed out that two weeks ago the numbers were higher.

“The situation is still serious, but not as bad as before. We are seeing a gradual improvement. We don’t have the same number of patients in serious condition in intensive care; we only have two and one of them was taken off the ventilator, but before we had up to five patients in the ICU,” said Terrero.

Medical staff in the emergency area informed journalists who visited the hospital that four children had been admitted in the morning with symptoms of the disease.

“This goes up and down but is not at the previous levels. On Saturday only five were admitted, when the average was 10, meaning that this could be taken as an indication that it is going down,” said the deputy director of the Robert Reid Cabral pediatric hospital. Meanwhile, in the Santo Socorro Hospital 40 cases of fever were treated on Sunday. According to the medical staff, two children with dengue symptoms were admitted in critical condition. And at the Hugo Mendoza pediatric hospital in the municipality of Santo Domingo North, 32 children were being treated yesterday for dengue symptoms, but six were about to be sent home.