12-year-old girl among two dead due to dengue in Ludhiana
District epidemiologist seeks medical reports of victims; health department says 238 people are suffering from dengue fever
Two more suspected dengue deaths were reported in the city, taking the toll to four.
As of now, the health department has not confirmed whether these deaths are due to dengue or not.
However, according to district health department, there are 238 people in the city who are suffering from dengue fever.
After two deaths reported last week, a 12-year-old girl, Gargi Batish, died during treatment at the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) on Monday. The cause of her death is stated to be multiple organ failure.
Gargi was suffering from fever since October 25 and was admitted to the DMCH on October 27.
Similarly, a 37-year-old factory labourer, Ramesh, also died of suspected dengue at a private hospital of the city.
According to Ramesh’s son Anoop, his father was admitted to ESIC Hospital on October 26 and was suffering from high fever for the past two days.
He was latter referred to a private hospital and was declared dead on Monday. Ramesh was a resident of Ward Number 28 in Dhandari Khurd.
It is the third death in that area.
Earlier, a 10-year-old girl named Preeti Kumar had died of dengue, as per the medical reports of the victim, at the DMCH on Friday.
She was also a resident of Ward number 28 and prior to this, a four-year-old girl, Ananya, of New Durga Colony, had died on October 21.
She was admitted to ESIC Hospital here on October 19 and was later referred to the PGIMER in Chandigarh.
District epidemiologist Dr Ramesh said as of now, there was no confirmation on whether the deaths were due to dengue or there is some other reason.
“We have sought the medical reports of the victims from hospitals and are in process of checking these cases. The inquiry committee will study the cases and confirm about the actual cause of death,” he added.
He said the anti-larvae wing of the district hospital was regularly conducting checks in the area. “People are being asked to avoid accumulation of water to prevent mosquito from breeding,” Dr Rajesh added.
VICTIM’S FAMILY CONDEMNS HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
Family of 12-year-old Gargi Batish is finding it hard to fathom their loss.
Her parents Angad and Himani were inconsolable when Gargi’s body was brought for cremation on Tuesday. There was anger among the family members against what they called a paralysed healthcare system.
Dalip Batish, a lawyer, said, “Gargi was a Class-8 student. It was around noon on October 25 that we received a call from her school that Gargi was unwell. We took her to a family doctor, who suspected dengue and asked us to get her platelet count checked. The platelet count was sufficient but it went down to 48,000 the next day. We rushed her to the DMCH on Diwali night.”
He said DMCH staff told the family that they did not have enough beds. “They made us sign an undertaking that despite unavailability of bed, we wanted to continue with the treatment. In morning, she was shifted to the ICU and died within few hours,” he added.
Her family members said neither fogging took place in their area nor the government ensured machinery to tackle such issues.
The DMCH authorities have admitted that there was a heavy rush of patients, but denied having taken any undertaking from relatives of the patients in written.