“The WHO in Cambodia should be closed” is the emphatic sign-off to a
lengthy and vivid analysis by Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospitals of the recent
“mystery disease” scare.
While the World Health
Organization and Ministry of Health have declared that a series of recent child
deaths are linked to EV-71, causing severe hand, foot and mouth disease, Kantha
Bopha founder Dr Beat Richner has slammed the conclusion as a “catastrophic
declaration”.
Richner said 72 cases of the
unexplained illness have appeared in his hospitals, and of those, 68 have died.
The WHO yesterday said the totals
from the Ministry of Health stood at 61 cases and 56 deaths, including one new
death over the weekend that fit the case definition of severe HFMD.
The “case definition” is the
critical impasse between the MoH and WHO, and Kantha Bopha, which treat 85 per
cent of all Cambodian children.
Kantha Bopha’s “case definition”
is encephalitis and complete lung destruction leading to a rapid death.
Not one of these cases showed
lesions associated with HFMD, Richner’s statement says.
However, WHO communications
officer Sonny Inbaraj Krishnan told the Post yesterday that of the cases
recorded by the UN agency and the MoH, rashes and blisters were present.
“Sometimes, with EV-71, either
blister or rash appears and it could be one or the other,” he said. “The case
definition [for WHO and MoH] is that the child has fever with neurological
systems such as vomiting and prolonged stretches of sleepiness or convulsions
and respiratory symptoms such as difficulty breathing.”
This conclusion is wrong and is
still confusing the media and public, Richner rebuts in his statement.
The question that has still not
been answered, Richner said, is “what is destroying the lungs in these 72 cases
of encephalitis in the last 6 hours of their life, all treated in private
clinics?”
Richner believes that the
administration of incorrect drugs to these 72 children could be a factor in the
astonishing destruction of the lungs present in the cases that have been
recorded by his hospitals.
The most “catastrophic” press
release by the MoH and WHO, according to the Swiss doctor, was the most recent,
in which the joint investigation conclusion is that a mix of pathogens and a
root affliction with EV-71 has been aggravated and worsened by the use of
steroids.
The Post previously reported
Richner decrying WHO’s criticism of the use of steroids as “absolute nonsense”.
The doctor emphasised that all
patients arriving with the unknown illness at Kantha Bopha hospitals showed
signs of encephalitis, which requires steroids to stem fatal swelling of the
brain.
A high number of platelets during
the final moments before death could be a sign that underlying tuberculosis is
complicating treatment, Richner said in the statement.
Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospitals
operate in parallel to the public health system in Cambodia and provide
outpatient and emergency care free of charge at their five hospitals in Phnom
Penh and Siem Reap.
However, a bitter relationship
between Kantha Bopha and the WHO appears to be complicating investigations into
and solutions to the child deaths.
MoH Secretary of State Heng Tay
Kry said only the minister or WHO could respond about Richner’s allegations.
Minister Mam Bunheng, Communicable
Disease Control Department director Sok Touch and his deputy, Ly Sovann, could
not be contacted yesterday.
WHO country representative Pieter
Van Maaren, told the Post he considered Richner’s statement “irrelevant”.
“We don’t communicate with Kantha
Bopha through the media,” Van Maaren said. “And we don’t give comment [on press
releases]. The Ministry of Health and WHO joint press releases state what is
our position [on the child deaths]."
Bridget Di Certo
With assistance from Chhay
Channyda
No comments:
Post a Comment