A nine-month-old girl who was suffering from severe respiratory distress died at the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital on Monday morning.
At least four children, either diagnosed with adenovirus infection or suffering from other viral respiratory diseases, died in Kolkata’s government hospitals in the past two days.
The girl who died on Monday was under treatment at Chinsurah Sub-divisional Hospital for 20 days before she was referred to Hooghly Imambara Hospital.
“She arrived at our hospital about five days ago with severe respiratory distress. She was admitted to the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU). She passed away on Monday morning,” said an official of Calcutta Medical College.
Officials at the Dr BC Roy Post Graduate Institute of Paediatric Sciences did not comment when this newspaper asked them whether any patient at the hospital died on Monday. “We are sending daily reports to the health department. We will not comment on any death,” said an official.
A nine-month-old girl passed away at Dr BC Roy hospital on Sunday. A senior official of the hospital had said she could not be shifted to the PICU even after her condition deteriorated as all beds in the unit were occupied.
The official had said all 20 PICU beds at the Kankurgachhi hospital had been occupied for days, forcing the authorities to turn down referrals from other hospitals.
Doctors said respiratory infections were continuing to spread among children and adults and a large number of hospital beds were still occupied by such patients.
An official at the ICMR-National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases said many of the children suffering from respiratory diseases were found to have been infected with a recombinant strain of the adenovirus.
“The recombinant strain was present earlier, too, but now it is being detected in most cases,” said Shanta Dutta, director of ICMR-NICED.
Doctors said the recombinant strain in some children can lead to critical diseases.
The influenza virus is also affecting a lot of people in Kolkata.
“Many adults with influenza are being admitted to hospital. It is advisable for people, particularly those with compromised immunity, to wear masks in public places and follow other personal hygiene,” said Chandramouli Bhattacharya, infectious disease expert at Peerless Hospital.
The state health department on Monday reiterated its advice to officials of hospitals in the districts to cut down referrals. A patient should be referred to a Kolkata hospital only if the treatment required cannot be provided in the district hospital where he or she has been admitted.
An official in the department said Dr BC Roy Institute is overburdened with patients.“All hospitals must fully utilise the infrastructure available to them. They have been asked to reduce referrals to Dr BC Roy Institute, which is overburdened with sick children,” said the official.
On February 19, health department officials had asked hospitals in districts to refer children to city hospitals judiciously.