A 12-year-old girl from Jadavpur died of cardiac arrest on Saturday at MR Bangur Hospital days after she tested positive for dengue.
Dona Das was brought to the hospital’s emergency while she was gasping for breath, doctors said. She died of cardiac arrest, around 1.40pm.
“The child was in a severe state of cardiac dysfunction and was heavily gasping when her relatives brought her to the emergency ward. There was little time with the doctors to take necessary steps towards saving her,” said a senior official of the hospital. “She died of acute viral myocarditis due to dengue infection.”
This is the third death in the last two days because of dengue in Calcutta, two of them from Tollygunge.
On Friday, a 78-year-old resident of Regent Estate in Tollygunge, died at the RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences (RTIICS). Kalpana Dutta had tested positive for dengue on September 16, doctors said.
A 66-year-old man suffering from dengue passed away during the day at the same hospital. The official at the hospital said the man, a resident of Salt Lake, suffered from co-morbidities.
A resident of Prince Golam Mohammad Shah Road in Jadavpur, Dona lived with her grandparents and was suffering from fever for the last few days, doctors at the MR Bangur hospital said. She was under treatment by a local doctor for fever. Her blood test report on September 21 showed she was dengue positive when the fever was slightly under control.
Dona’s death comes within three days of another 12-year-old girl dying at a private hospital in Dum Dum. By the time she was brought to the hospital, the patient was in a critical state and had to be put on ventilation.
“There is a tendency either to delay the blood test or try to deny that the fever is due to dengue viral infection. The more this happens, patients would continue to turn up at hospitals in a critical state,” the doctor of the MR Bangur Hospital said.
“Please don’t shy away from undergoing the blood test for dengue. We have close to 70 dengue-positive patients admitted in the hospital right now.”
The total number of dengue cases in Calcutta, since January, stood at 2,700 last week and has increased to 3,802 this week, mayor Firhad Hakim said on Friday.
“The rise in the number of cases is a cause of concern. We have stepped up the cleanliness drive and will continue to do so while spreading awareness,” he said.
Senior officials of the civic body said health centres in all the wards across the city will now be functioning on weekends.