Firozabad: Death toll due to dengue, viral fever reaches 50
(Sourced from PTI)
With three fresh fatalities, the death toll due to dengue and viral fever has climbed to 50 in Uttar Pradesh's Firozabad, official sources said on Friday. "So far, 50 people have died due to dengue and viral fever. Ten areas - nine blocks and a Nagar Nigam area - in the district are affected," Chief Medical Officer Dinesh Kumar Premi said in a statement.
"There are 36 active camps in the district and 3,719 people, including those who have a fever, are undergoing treatment there," he added. Amid the rising death toll, District Magistrate Chandra Vijay Singh has made the chief development officer (CDO) the nodal officer of the district to oversee the treatment and other facilities for the patients.
The district magistrate (DM) suspended three doctors with immediate effect on Thursday on charges of negligence and warned the government doctors of strict action for any negligence in the treatment of the patients. Dr. Girish Srivastava of the Primary Health Center at Salai, Dr. Ruchi Srivastava, a public health expert, and Dr. Saurav were suspended.
Firozabad's Chief Medical Officer Neeta Kulshresth was also removed on Wednesday following the spate of deaths, mostly of children, since August 18 due to the suspected cases of dengue. A senior medical department official said that cases similar to those in Firozabad have also been reported from the nearby districts of Mathura, Etah, and Mainpuri.
Meanwhile, BJP MLA Manish Asija claimed that on the basis of information available with him, the death toll has climbed to 61. Asija said he is constantly moving about in the area to meet the victims' families and collecting information about the deaths.
Meanwhile, several hundred have been hospitalized across five other affected western UP districts: Agra, Mathura, Mainpuri, Etah, and Kasganj. With high malnutrition levels among children and poor health infrastructure, UP has seen similar outbreaks before too. Another "mysterious" outbreak in 2006 had killed several children across UP. It was later found that the deaths were caused due to the consumption of cassia beans.
