Raju, 38, of Ezhupathimoonnu Kattunayakka tribal hamlet at Cheeyambam in the district died of Kyasanur Forest Disease (KFD or monkey fever) at a private medical college hospital at noon on Monday.
Raju, a temporary forest watcher, was admitted to hospital nearly three weeks ago in a critical condition with repeated symptoms of KFD.
His condition had improved slightly in the past two days but he died of complications from KFD, P.V. Sasidharan, District Medical Officer in-charge, told The Hindu .
As news of the death spread, hundreds of villagers staged a road blockade.
Traffic was disrupted for nearly two hours after the villagers placed his body in an ambulance on the Sulthan Bathery-Pulpally highway at Cheeyamam.
They demanded sufficient compensation and a job for a member of the family of the deceased, increase in financial assistance to KFD patients from Rs.10,000 to Rs.25,000, and expediting of measures to disburse financial aid to all KFD patients.
Later, Sulthan Bathery Tribal Development Officer A. Moosa held talks with the villagers and handed over a cheque of Rs.2 lakh as solatium to the kin of the deceased. He also agreed to take up their demand with the government.
This is the ninth monkey fever death case being reported from the district in the past couple of months, Dr. Sasidharan said.
165 suspected cases
As many as 165 suspected KFD cases have been reported in the district since January 16. Of these 69 were positive, he said.
As many as five patients were under treatment in various hospitals in the district.
A tribal activist said though the government had announced financial assistance of Rs.10,000 each to KFD patients, the Scheduled Tribe Development Department had disbursed the assistance only to 35 patients.
Though the Health Department had provided the list of the remaining patients a few days ago, no steps had been taken yet to disburse the aid.
