Mumbai: Official data may show a dip in Mumbai’s dengue cases compared to last year, but that brings little comfort to severely ill patients rushing to hospitals. Doctors report that many of those admitted have critically low platelet counts.For instance, 29-year-old Manisha Rajak, who is 6 to 7 months pregnant, was rushed to Malad’s MW Desai Hospital on Thursday with a high fever, severe muscle and joint pain, and a headache, only to find that there were zero beds available.Hospital officials say all 39 general beds are packed. Dr Pradnya Malgundkar, the medical superintendent, said most beds are occupied by patients with monsoon illnesses, primarily dengue. “Dengue is on the rise, and patients have low platelets. We do not have enough beds to accommodate them,” she said.Even the 10 ICU beds are fully occupied, split between cardiac patients and severe dengue patients. Rajak’s husband, Sunil, told TOI that they had arrived at the hospital around 3 pm and had to rush Manisha to Jogeshwari Trauma Hospital themselves at their own expense.As per protocol, the hospital was supposed to arrange an ambulance for her. Dr Malgundkar said that the hospital has only one BMC ambulance, which was serving another patient at the time. “We need another ambulance and have already requested an additional 108 ambulance,” she added.City-based gynaecologist Dr Nandita Palshetkar, a former president of the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI), said, “Pregnant women with dengue need to be continuously monitored.”Dr Palshetkar has seen at least two cases like Manisha recently. “In one patient, the platelet count fell to around 30,000. The second patient was carrying twins… one twin suffered an intrauterine fetal death. It is a very distressing situation. Dengue in pregnancy has been associated with foetal distress, pregnancy loss, premature birth, and sometimes risks transmission of the infection to the baby around delivery,” she said.
