A five-year-old girl, suspected to have had dengue, died at a private hospital in New Washermenpet on Monday. One of her relatives has also been admitted to hospital with similar symptoms.
D. Raghavi, who lived on Third Street, Desiya Nagar, had been admitted to Priya Nursing Home on Saturday with symptoms of dengue. Her father is a daily-wage labourer, and the child was a UKG student of a Chennai Corporation school in the neighbourhood.
Her relative, Ravikumar (26) has now been admitted at the same hospital’s intensive care unit.
Raghavi’s death created a scare in the area, and political party representatives rushed to her home to offer condolences.
The Chennai Corporation however, denied the child had died of dengue, saying her platelet count was 2.5 lakh, IgM and IgG tests were negative and there was no bleeding.
“The management of a case is different in every hospital. There is a need for awareness among doctors. The Corporation will soon conduct an orientation programme on treatment methodologies among doctors,” said an official.
The Corporation also announced a complete screening of 45 mosquito breeding hotspots identified in the city. Areas such as Sowcarpet, Velachery, Tiruvanmiyur, K.K. Nagar and Saligramam are on the list.
“We have already checked 2,300 construction sites and 10,000 vacant plots in the city and collected fines amounting to Rs. 10 lakh. ‘Stop work’ notices have been issued at many sites with mosquito breeding sources. Notices have also been issued to plot-owners for failure to control mosquito breeding sources,” said the official. Breeding sources have been removed in 50,000 houses so far.
The civic body has also procured insecticide worth Rs.10 crore and readied 550 sprayers, 350 fogging machines and 67 vehicle-mounted machines to deal with the mosquito menace.
