Girl dies of fever at private hospital, swine flu suspected
Kolkata: A girl died with swine flu like symptoms at a private hospital at Park Circus after she was kept on ventilation support for the past 18 days. The incident occurred six days after a 6-year-old girl died at the same hospital with similar symptoms.
The state Health department is yet to confirm if the death was caused by swine flu.
The hospital sources, however, claimed that the girl died of swine flu symptoms. The victim, Barsha Biswas, a resident of Dhantala in Nadia complained of high fever with respiratory distress nearly a month ago when her family members took her to a hospital in Ranaghat.
As her health condition deteriorated, the patient was shifted to Kalyani JNM Hospital. However, the patient was shifted later to a city hospital.
The victim was brought all the way from Nadia and admitted to NRS Medical College and Hospital. After a brief treatment at NRS Medical College and Hospital, the victim was again shifted to a private child hospital at Park Circus.
The family members of the victim alleged that before being taken to the child hospital, two private hospitals in the city denied her treatment. According to the sources at the child hospital at Park Circus, the patient's condition was critical when she was brought to the hospital. The patient was kept on ventilation support for the past 18 days. Despite the efforts by the doctors, the patient's fight for life ended on Tuesday morning. It was also learnt that the private hospital authorities have decided to waive the costs of the patient's treatment to some extent as she was from an underprivileged family. It can be mentioned that a 6-year-old girl from Bankura died at the same hospital on September 19 with swine flu-like symptoms. The victim, Sritama Roy (6), had been from Kotolpur village in Bankura.
The state Health department has sought a report from the private hospital relating to the death of the victim.
The Health department had earlier issued instructions to all the government-owned hospitals in the state to admit patients with swine flu like symptoms in isolation wards.
It had also instructed the hospitals to put in place adequate arrangement to run the isolation ward smoothly so that patients with flu like symptoms can be treated there.
