The death toll from dengue climbed to 14 on Tuesday as two more deaths — of a six-year-old child and a 29-year-old woman — were reported in the national Capital.
A six-year-old boy, Aman, from Srinivaspuri area of South Delhi, became the 13th victim of dengue this season. His family claimed negligence by hospitals.
According to Aman’s father Manoj Sharma, he was diagnosed with dengue at a private hospital in Srinivaspuri and was then taken to Safdarjung Hospital on September 9.
“The doctors at Safdarjung Hospital said as the boy has no dengue there is no need of getting him admitted. Also, at that point of time, our son’s condition was a bit stable so we brought him home… But on Friday his condition worsened and we took him to Jeewan Hospital in Maharani Bagh where he was admitted till Saturday night,” said Aman’s father.
“At 2.30 am, the doctors there told us that his condition was critical and they do not have the equipment to handle such cases and thus we should shift him to a bigger hospital,” he added.
The family then tried getting admission in Max Saket, Moolchand and Batra, but they cited unavailability of beds following which they took the child to Safdarjung where he was admitted for two-three hours.
Seeing the child’s condition deteriorate, the family then shifted him to Holy Family Hospital in Okhla where he was tested positive for dengue and died on Sunday evening.
“Our complaint is against Safdarjung hospital because of which our son was without medication for around 24 hours. Doctors there misguided us despite the fact that we carried the report of a private hospital in which he was tested positive for dengue… If this is the condition of a Government hospital, where will the people go,” asked the father.
Another case of death due to dengue was reported on Tuesday at lok Nayak Hospital. According to hospital authorities, the woman, a resident of North-West Delhi, had come to the hospital on Monday evening and died within a few minutes even as she was being attended to.
“The woman came gasping to the hospital. She carried a report from Ardent Ganpati hospital as per which she had tested positive for dengue… She apparently was suffering from Dengue Shock Syndrome (DSS). As per her records, she had been ill for the last five days,” said Dr Yogesh Kumar Sarin, medical superintendent at the hospital.
last week, dengue claimed the life of a seven-year-old Avinash Rout, who was allegedly denied admission by five hospitals and he later died at Batra hospital. He succumbed to the disease on September 8 and his parents committed suicide that same night by jumping off the terrace of their fourth floor residence.
As per the latest civic body data released on Monday, 613 cases of dengue have been reported in the last one week and a total 1,872 patients have tested positive for the disease till September 12.
The death toll as per the municipal corporation’s official data still stands at five.