Another boy in Delhi dies of dengue, family alleges hospital negligence

New Delhi: Another boy has died of dengue with his family claiming negligence by hospitals in the city where only last week seven-year-old Avinash had succumbed to the disease after allegedly being turned away by five hospitals which had driven his parents to suicide.

Aman, 6, from Srinivaspuri area of South Delhi has become the tenth victim of dengue this season.

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 9 September.

“The doctors at Safdarjung hospital said that our boy does not have dengue and thus 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.

“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,” said Aman’s father.

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 on Okhla road where he tested positive for dengue and passed away on Sunday evening.

“Our complaint is against Safdarjung hospital because of which our son was without medication for around 24 hours. Doctors there told us that our son does not have dengue though we carried the report of a private hospital where he had tested postitive of dengue.

“If this is the condition of a government hospital, where will the people go?” said the father.

With this death, the dengue death toll in the city has risen to ten. However, the death toll as per the municipal corporation’s official data still stands at 5.

As per the corporation’s fresh 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 vector borne disease till 12 September.

Earlier this month, 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 8 September and his parents committed suicide that same night by jumping off the terrace of their fourth floor residence.

PTI