UP: 12,000 bedridden in dengue-hit Firozabad, death toll mounts to 114

AGRA: At least 12,000 people in Firozabad are now bedridden with a viral fever that has the district in its grip, sources in the health department have revealed. With four more deaths in the last 24 hours, the toll on Sunday increased to 114, including 88 children.
A team of the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) had identified a dengue outbreak in the district last week.The deaths have continued despite widespread fogging and door-to-door surveys to drain out stagnant water and to arrest the spread of vector-borne diseases.

A top source in the health department told TOI an estimated 12,000 people are now bedridden at home or in hospitals.
On Sunday, government hospitals continued to scramble to arrange beds while treatment prices in private hospitals have sky-rocketed. Veer Pal, a resident of Bhim Nagar and a daily wager, lost his five-year-old son following lack of treatment for high fever on Sunday. The father told TOI that a private hospital in the city had demanded Rs 30,000 in advance to start treatment.

“I requested them to start treatment and give me time to arrange money, but they refused. Later, I took my child to the Firozabad medical college where staff refused to admit my child as beds were not available. I arranged for a private taxi to take us to Agra, but my son died on the way,” Veer Pal said.
No official complaint was made in the matter, said chief medical superintendent of Firozabad medical college, Dr Hansraj Singh. “We are continuously adding beds to adjust the increasing number of patients,” he said.
There are 64 active camps in the district and 4,800 people, including those with fever, are undergoing treatment there, CMO Dinesh Kumar Premi said.
According to the health department officials, 578 cases of dengue have been confirmed in Firozabad so far. A few cases of malaria, scrub typhus — a bacterial illness spread by larval mites, leptospirosis, another bacterial disease spread through the urine of infected animals, have also been reported. Diarrhoea has also emerged as a threat to children.
Additional director of the health department, A K Singh, said over 100 teams of health staff are conducting door-to-door surveys to identify patients and provide them with medicines and required assistance. “There is no shortage of platelets or required medicines at the government centres. Additional ambulances have been arranged to take patients to hospital. Civic body teams are carrying out special cleanliness drives in the affected areas. All recent deaths are being investigated,” he said.