Govt sets maximum Tk500 as dengue test fee

The Directorate General of Health has set Tk500 as the maximum fee for dengue test.

Professor Abul Kalam Ajad, director of the Directorate, made the announcement at a press briefing at Mohakhali, Dhaka, on Sunday.

He also asked all public and private hospitals to maintain the rate.

Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) directed all private hospitals in the country to keep the charges for tests concerning diagnosis of dengue at or below 500 taka. Professor Abul Kalam Ajad, Director General at the directorate, announced this at a press briefing held at the DGHS headquarters in Mohakhali in the city.

At the press meet he said that from now on private hospitals and clinics as well as diagnostic centres must maintain a common ‘rate chart’ for different tests concerning diagnosis of dengue. According to the directive, the charges for NS1, IGM / IgE, and CBC (RBC+WBC + platelet + Hematocrit) are set at Tk500, Tk500, and Tk400, respectively. DGHS will have 10 teams so as to monitor whether this ‘rate chart’ is being followed in private hospitals and clinics.

Professor Abul Kalam Ajad also said that all the clinic and hospital authorities in Dhaka agreed to open help desks and have the option of reserve seats for treating dengue without charging anything extra for these services at a meeting between the DGHS and Private Clinic-Hospital Samity. 

At another meeting between the DGHS and principals of medical colleges in Dhaka, it was decided that from today students of medical colleges will start conducting awareness campaigns concerning dengue at different schools in the city.

When asked whether the prevailing situation concerning the spread of dengue has reached an epidemic level, the Director General declined to comment, as he said that the number of deaths caused by dengue this year cannot be specified. Having said this, he confirmed that all the hospitals have run out of seats to dengue patients. 

Professor Abul Kalam Ajad doesn’t think that any vaccination is needed for the prevention of dengue. At the press meet he said, “Today we took part in a meeting with Sanofi Aventis, a dengue vaccine producing company from abroad; but it seems to us that vaccines at this stage will not be helpful to check the spread of dengue,” clarifying that the vaccines would take five months to be imported, and by then the season for dengue-infection will be over.