The death toll due to dengue and viral fever in Uttar Pradesh’s Firozabad district has jumped to 50, official sources said on Friday. According to a report, the Centre has sent a team of experts from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme to the state to help the local health officials to deal the situation.
“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.
In a video statement released on Thursday, Chandra Vijay Singh, the District Magistrate of Firozabad said, “A team of the WHO has told me this is Haemorrhagic Dengue which is a very dangerous form of dengue. The platelet count of children collapses suddenly and there is a lot of bleeding.”
There are 36 active camps in the district and 3,719 people, including those who have fever, are undergoing treatment there, he added. Amid the rising death toll, 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 government doctors of strict action for any negligence in the treatment of the patients. Dr Girish Srivastava of the Primary Health Centre at Salai, Dr Ruchi Srivastava, a public health expert, and Dr Saurav were suspended.
Firozabad’s Chief Medical Officer Neeta Kulshresth was removed on Wednesday following the spate of deaths, mostly of children, since August 18 due to suspected cases of dengue. A senior medical department official said 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.
(with input from PTI)
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