Prompt tests could have saved dengue patient

Our Correspondent

Mohali, September 27

Doctors could perhaps have saved the life of a dengue patient here had he gone in for laboratory tests promptly after fever was recorded.

Sham Lal (52), who was a senior clerk with Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd, failed to get dengue tests done after suffering from fever. He got the dengue tests done after three days at Max Hospital here, but it seems it was too late by then, said family members.

Neeru, daughter of the deceased who works as a nurse, said her father suffered from fever on September 9 and got an injection and medicine from a family doctor. He declined to get the dengue tests done.

The deceased’s mother, Sudesh Rani, kept asking him time and again to get the tests done but he did not agree. He, however, kept complaining of a burning sensation in his stomach. Neeru said her father went to Max Hospital on September 12 only after he felt dizzy in the washroom. The dengue tests carried out at Max revealed that his platelet count was 15,000, which went down to 10,000 the next day. She said he probably suffered from internal bleeding and was taken to the ICU after he started sweating badly. He, however, died soon after on September 13.

Jasbir Kaur, a neighbour, said larvae of dengue mosquito was found in a cooler by a team of the Health Department in one of the houses during its visit to the area. A large number of houses were checked and chemicals sprayed.