One more dies of Chikungunya in Delhi, death toll mounts to 6
14 September, New Delhi
The death toll due to Chikungunya in Delhi today rose to six with an 80-year-old succumbing to the disease at Delhi’s Apollo hospital, sources said. Earlier, a 75-year-old person succumbed to the disease in Sir Gangaram hospital last evening.
Mr P Kalra, a 75-year-old resident of Mathura, died yesterday due to kidney failure and Chikungunya, a spokesperson for the hospital said. Mr Kalra was admitted to the hospital on September 12.
“He died of kidney failure and chikungunya this evening,”the spokesperson said yesterday. Earlier, four persons died of the disease in the national capital over the last one week, including three at the Sir Gangaram hospital.
As many as three patients succumbed to the disease since September 11, at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and all the three patients died due to multiple organ failure.
According to Chairman of Board of Directors of the SGRH, D S Rana, “Three patients have succumbed to the disease.”
He said out of three patients, two were from outside Delhi. R Pandey (65) died on September 11, while Uday Shankar (61) and Ashok Chauhan (62) succumbed to the disease yesterday.
He said Uday Shankar was a resident of Delhi, while R Pandey was from Ghaziabad and Ashok Chauhan was from Aligarh.
He said these patients were admitted to the hospital in a very critical condition.
Till date, 82 patients were diagnosed with Chikungunya and 39 dengue patients have been admitted in the hospital. Earlier, in the first week of September, a 22-year-old woman had died of suspected Chikungunya at the Hindu Rao hospital. Doctors, however, said the death at Bara Hindu Rao was due to Malaria.
However, Delhi Health Minister Satyender Jain hassaid there was no death due to Chikungunya in any Delhi Government hospital.
In fact, he claimed that there have been no deaths due to Chikungunya in Delhi. He said the Delhi Government has instituted a probe into four Chikungunya deaths that were reported from a private hospital (Sir Ganga Ram Hospital) .
“We will probe as to why in one hospital there have been four Chikungunya deaths,” Mr Jain said. Mr Jain, who visited five Delhi Government Hospitals to meet dengue and chikungunya patients, said there was no reason for panic.
“I again appeal to people not to panic. They must get admitted in hospitals only when doctors ask them to, not on their own,” Mr Jain said.
He said the Delhi Government was fully prepared to deal with the situation.
“Arrangements in all Delhi Govt hospitals are good. Sufficient beds are available,” Mr Jain said.
On September 11, the municipal corporations had released the number of patients diagnosed with Chikungunya as 1,724 but had not confirmed of any deaths.