The Hindu : New Delhi News : Dengue claims life of AIIMS student

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Sunday, Oct 01, 2006
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New Delhi

Dengue claims life of AIIMS student

Staff Reporter

19 students, staff of the institute admitted with symptoms of the disease so far

NEW DELHI: A seventh semester medical student at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) admitted to the hospital on Thursday evening with dengue died on Saturday afternoon.

"The student, Raj Kiran, was admitted to the hospital in a critical condition and collapsed the same night with excessive bleeding in the brain. He was operated upon on Friday morning to drain out excess blood. However, the condition of the student did not improve and he died this afternoon. On Saturday four more students were admitted with symptoms of dengue, taking the total number of students and hospital staff admitted to the hospital with the symptoms of the disease to 19," said a senior physician at AIIMS.

The Institute authorities claimed that necessary instructions had been issued to ensure that the number of dengue cases being reported from the hostels and residential area within the AIIMS premises is controlled.

"All support staff have been asked to keep a close watch for any signs of mosquito-breeding around hospital premises, students' hostels and doctors' residences. Instructions have also been issued to remove the garbage and stagnant water from near the boundary walls of the institute and to keep the water coolers clean," said an AIIMS official.

Speaking about the poor hygiene in the hostels, a medical student at AIIMS said: "We have been complaining about the poor hygiene in our hostels, but we are yet to get a proper response. Now with the death of a student, the administration has taken some hasty action."

"At least seven students are admitted in the new private wards at AIIMS with dengue and there are at least 25 to 30 patients from family members of AIIMS itself who are admitted with dengue. Three years back a faculty member at AIIMS had succumbed to dengue. Despite these incidents, adequate measures are still not in place to prevent breeding of mosquitoes," said Progressive Medicos and Scientists Forum spokesperson Dr. Vikas Bajpai.

Alarmed at the condition of medical students at AIIMS, medical colleges in the city have issued a general alert though maintaining that there is no cause for panic.

"We are seeing an increase in the number of people reporting with dengue especially in the past 10 days but our staff and students have no complains so far," said Maulana Azad Medical College and Associated Hospitals Dean and Director, Professor A.K. Agarwal.

The Capital has registered an overall increase in the number of dengue cases reported this year with 448 cases having been reported from various hospitals so far.

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