A three-year-old girl who was admitted at a private hospital in Tondiarpet two days ago, died on Monday night of dengue. The child’s death certificate states that she died of complications due to dengue.
P. Dharshini, the daughter of Parthasarathy, a resident of V.O.C. Nagar in Tondiarpet, was admitted to Ezhil Hospital, around 3 km from her house, on Sunday for treatment of fever.
On Monday, past midnight, Dharshini was declared to have died of sudden cardiac arrest. The certificate further stated that her death was “a case of dengue haemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome/internal haemorrhage.”
Residents said Dharshini had been admitted to school this year, on Vijaya Dashami day. Her father, Parthasarathy works at a tinker shed in Tondiarpet.
According to residents of the area, their tap water stinks and they have to allow it to flow for some time before filling pots. On 17th Cross Street, water stagnates constantly, and no effort is made to drain it, said K. Bhaskar, a resident.
The residents also blame an open rainwater canal in their locality for the mosquito menace and consequent infections.
Sathish Kumar, another resident, said Chennai Corporation officials fogged the streets every time a death was reported in the media. On Tuesday evening, a similar exercise was undertaken, he said. Mr. Bhaskar said neither the Mayor nor local councillor had visited the locality. “A fortnight ago, when a five-year-old child died, the Corporation denied that the cause of death was dengue. This time, the hospital has issued a death certificate stating it was dengue,” he said.
Corporation health officials however, claimed that Dharshini did not die of dengue.
‘State is prepared’
Health minister K.C. Veeramani on Tuesday told the Assembly that precautionary measures taken by the government had led to a drastic reduction in the number of malaria and dengue cases in Chennai. Replying to a calling attention motion, he said 1,885 malaria cases had been reported till October 2012. Now, the number has come down to 1,573. The number of dengue cases has fallen to just 11 from 110 in October last year, he said.
Mr. Veeramani said 920 workers have been involved in mosquito control and 113 hand-sprayers, 76 small fumigation machines and 20 vehicles fitted with fumigation machines have been deployed.
A stormwater drain network to the extent of 235.38 km has been laid and 7,496 streets are fumigated every week and larvicide is sprayed in all canals, spanning a length of 64.14 km.
