The death toll due to suspected dengue has gone up to four with another death being recorded in Anekal taluk on Tuesday. After Hamsa Kumari, Vishnu and Shruthi, four-year-old Milan died of suspected dengue on Tuesday morning at a private hospital in city. However, Mayor D. Venkatesh Murthy has been claiming that there has been only one dengue death and there was no need to panic.
According to a BBMP health official, the boy was admitted to Santhosh Hospital on Saturday with complaints of high fever and was put on ventilator. He had decreased platelet count but did not respond to supplement of platelets. Later, he developed septic shock syndrome and multi-organ failure and died on Tuesday. BBMP’s nodal officer for vector control, Dr Lokesh, ruled out the death due to the dengue and said the samples will be sent to the National Institute of Virology for confirmation.
Fever fails to wake up BBMP officials
Though dengue-related deaths are being reported from different parts of the city over the last one week, the BBMP refuses to accept the fact and take preventive measures on a full swing. Instead, the BBMP has been shifting the blame on the doctors and private hospitals, saying they are creating a panic among the public by declaring that the patients are suffering from dengue.
Chairman of the BBMP standing committee on health Venkatesh Babu told reporters on Tuesday: “Doctors from private hospitals are creating panic and tarnishing the image of the BBMP, indicating that dengue cases are on the the rise. Platelet count among patients can drop for even other ailments apart from dengue. They have to diagnose the disease properly before declaring it as dengue.”
Mr Babu said not all hospitals can declare cases of dengue. Only three hospitals – Nimhans, M.S. Ramaiah and National Institute of Virology at the Victoria Hospital are authorised to diagnose and declare dengue cases. On the death of Hamsa Kumari due to suspected case of dengue at St. John’s Hospital, he said, “The hospital did not treat the patient properly. She should have been shifted to the ICU for proper care. Also, she died of multiple organ failure and not just dengue.”
Aramanenagar corporator Dr M.S. Shivaprasad said dengue has four stages – sub-clinical, clinically overt, fulminant and Type 4. Only the last stage is fatal, he added.