Health service providers in Rohtas have referred a large number of dengue patients to Patna Medical College and Hospital despite being provided with equipment and medical personnel to deal with the outbreak.

Rohtas civil surgeon Ramji Singh on Thursday said: “We have referred 55 of 65 dengue patients to Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH).”

Medicines, elisa testing kits and experts from the PMCH and Nalanda Medical College and Hospital have, however, been rushed to the district, which has turned out to be the epicentre of the disease in the state.

A doctor at PMCH, who did not want to be named, said: “Till now, 65 confirmed cases of dengue have been reported from Rohtas. It is alarming. What is even more alarming is that the primary health centres (PHCs) in the district have been referring most of the cases to PMCH.”

The doctor added that the patients who had come to the PMCH from the district, 120km west of Patna, were not in a critical state as their platelet count was not too low. They have been prescribed paracetamol and asked to take intravenous fluids.

Asked about the preparations at the PHCs in the district, Rohtas civil surgeon Singh said: “We have made all necessary arrangements to deal with dengue cases.”

Asked why the patients were being sent to the PMCH, he said: “We have a huge crisis of doctors in the district. Against the 328 sanctioned posts, we have only 120 doctors. We don’t have the manpower to deal with a crisis.”

JKL Das, head of the medicine department of the PMCH, where most of the patients from Rohtas are being treated, said there was no need for them to come all the way to the state capital.

He said: “There are three kinds of dengue — simple, fever with rashes and haemorrhagic fever. The last one is dangerous as the platelet count drops significantly in these cases.”

All the patients from Rohtas were suffering only from the first two kinds and could have been easily treated at the PHCs, Das added.