KOLKATA: With dengue cases rising sharply in South Dum Dum, yet another death of a young girl early on Sunday – the seventh dengue victim in South Dum Dum Municipality – triggered a fresh panic in the neighbourhood. More than 500 are down with dengue in the civic body area.
Twenty-year-old Samapti Malick, a BCom (honours) third-year student of Sir Gurudas Mahavidyalaya, Kolkata, and a resident of M M Ghosh Road near Dum Dum Motijheel at ward 21 , died of dengue at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital around 1.20 am on Sunday, barely three hours after she was admitted there on Saturday night.
Two more persons in the family, including her 60-year-old uncle Bishu Malick and her cousin (sister), 21-year-old Sujata, are undergoing treatment for dengue.
The vector-borne disease has already claimed six – four of them in September alone – persons this season in South Dum Dum.
According to Malick family sources, Samapti had been suffering from fever accompanied by chest pain since Wednesday, after which she was diagnosed with dengue following a blood test. “But her platelet count was still at 1,74,000 (normal range 1.5 lakh-4 lakh). On Thursday, I took her to RG Kar hospital while she was suffering from acute chest pain. Doctors administered her an injection to reduce the pain and released her. But after returning home, she had a severe bout of vomiting with high fever and started having the chest pain again,” said Aparna Malick, her mother.
“After this, we admitted her to the ICU of Healthcare Nursing Home in Dum Dum’s Nagerbazar on Friday morning. But her condition kept deteriorating. The nursing home authorities then referred her to RG Kar Hospital where she died in the wee hours on Sunday,” she added.
The death of another young girl from dengue in the area also triggered a protest by locals who alleged negligence on the part of the civic authorities.
The agitators also initially didn’t allow local councillor Anjana Rakshit, the former chairman of South Dum Dum Municipality, to enter the victim’s.
They said that continuous rain and the resultant waterlogging has led to a surge in fresh dengue cases in the area in past two weeks. “The entire area gets waterlogged even after a few spells of rain. Mosquito-breeding grounds have been identified but the civic authorities have not taken enough initiative to tackle the situation,” said Suparna Roy, a local resident.
The councillor, however, denied the charge.
“A medical team and health workers are monitoring the dengue-affected areas on a regular basis. Clean-up activity and spraying of larvicide are on. We have been urging people to ensure that there is no water stagnation but at many places, we could see water accumulation. Heaps of garbage were also found in some areas,” said Rakshit.
Twenty-year-old Samapti Malick, a BCom (honours) third-year student of Sir Gurudas Mahavidyalaya, Kolkata, and a resident of M M Ghosh Road near Dum Dum Motijheel at ward 21 , died of dengue at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital around 1.20 am on Sunday, barely three hours after she was admitted there on Saturday night.
Two more persons in the family, including her 60-year-old uncle Bishu Malick and her cousin (sister), 21-year-old Sujata, are undergoing treatment for dengue.
The vector-borne disease has already claimed six – four of them in September alone – persons this season in South Dum Dum.
According to Malick family sources, Samapti had been suffering from fever accompanied by chest pain since Wednesday, after which she was diagnosed with dengue following a blood test. “But her platelet count was still at 1,74,000 (normal range 1.5 lakh-4 lakh). On Thursday, I took her to RG Kar hospital while she was suffering from acute chest pain. Doctors administered her an injection to reduce the pain and released her. But after returning home, she had a severe bout of vomiting with high fever and started having the chest pain again,” said Aparna Malick, her mother.
“After this, we admitted her to the ICU of Healthcare Nursing Home in Dum Dum’s Nagerbazar on Friday morning. But her condition kept deteriorating. The nursing home authorities then referred her to RG Kar Hospital where she died in the wee hours on Sunday,” she added.
The death of another young girl from dengue in the area also triggered a protest by locals who alleged negligence on the part of the civic authorities.
The agitators also initially didn’t allow local councillor Anjana Rakshit, the former chairman of South Dum Dum Municipality, to enter the victim’s.
They said that continuous rain and the resultant waterlogging has led to a surge in fresh dengue cases in the area in past two weeks. “The entire area gets waterlogged even after a few spells of rain. Mosquito-breeding grounds have been identified but the civic authorities have not taken enough initiative to tackle the situation,” said Suparna Roy, a local resident.
The councillor, however, denied the charge.
“A medical team and health workers are monitoring the dengue-affected areas on a regular basis. Clean-up activity and spraying of larvicide are on. We have been urging people to ensure that there is no water stagnation but at many places, we could see water accumulation. Heaps of garbage were also found in some areas,” said Rakshit.
