New Delhi: A three-year-old girl has become the latest victim of dengue as the death toll in the city rose to 15 in what is being billed as the worst outbreak of the vector-borne disease in the national capital in the past five years.
Neha Mathur, a resident of Sangam Vihar area in south Delhi died of dengue at Saket City Hospital yesterday, doctors said on Thursday.
According to her father Vinod Mathur, Neha had fever for quite some time and on September 11, he got her tested but the results were normal.
"The test results were normal. But as fever did not subside, on September 15 we took her to Pt Madan Mohan Malaviya Hospital. Doctors there did not carry out any tests, just gave her drip and discharged. Around 3 am yesterday, she developed high fever and we rushed her to Majeedia Hospital in Hamdard Nagar where again the doctors gave her injection and stabilised her. They did not admit her or did not carry out any tests," said her father.
"We brought her home but her condition deteriorated and we took her to Saket City hospital around 11 AM where she died. She tested positive for dengue at the hospital," said Mathur.
"The patient had come with internal bleeding and died of dengue shock syndrome," said Dr Shashishekhar Singh, senior consultant at the hospital's Paediatrics department.
As per the municipal corporation's official data, 1,872 patients have tested positive for the vector-borne disease till September 12. The death toll as per the official data stands at 5.
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Union Home Ministry reviewed the situation in the national capital and directed the city government to take all possible steps to ameliorate people's sufferings.
Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi held a meeting with Delhi Chief Secretary K K Sharma, who briefed him about the steps taken by the Delhi government to check the spread of dengue and action taken to give relief to people.
Mehrishi also assured the city government all central assistance to handle the situation arising out of the rapid spread of dengue in the capital, official sources said.
Hospitals across the capital continued to wilt under huge rush of patients while an embattled Delhi government has directed all medical institutions to urgently increase bed capacity and employ more doctors and nurses.
Arvind Kejriwal government had already directed officials to set up 600 new beds at three hospitals, which are not-yet fully functional, in Janakpuri, Ashok Vihar and Tahirpur areas for fever and vector-borne disease patients.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain recently directed officials to buy 1,000 new beds to accommodate dengue patients in government hospitals.
