CCHF victim Asha John, said that no one at the hospital bothered to conduct tests on her daughter.
My daughter was not treated well by the hospital, says Omna Christian, mother of the 25-year-old nurse, Asha John, who died of Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) at the city's Shalby Hospital on Tuesday. Incidentally, Asha was a nurse at the same hospital when she fell ill. Omna still works as a nurse there.
It was Asha's death that alerted the management of the hospital to the deadly nature of the mysterious fever and forced it take steps to prevent the disease from spreading.
Since November 2008, Asha had been working as a nurse in the medical ICU of the hospital. This is the same ward where Ameena Momin, 30, the first known victim of the CCHF virus, was admitted on December 30.
Omna alleged that Asha had not received necessary care and treatment at the hospital. "I am not against anyone but the hospital could have conducted tests well in advance," she said. "But they didn't take her illness seriously."
"Asha died 10 days after she was admitted for treatment," said Omna. "But no one in the hospital bothered to conduct the tests." She further alleged that one of the doctors at the hospital had even refused to examine her daughter after she developed some unusual symptoms of the disease.
The hospital authorities, however, said that they had taken every care to protect the staff as well as the other patients from the deadly virus.
"We have dedicated microbiologists as well as a department for infection control. But everything happened so fast that there was little time to react," said Neeraj Lal, V-P (quality) Shalby Hospital.
Capt Shubha Ravindranath, director of nursing at the hospital, maintained that the hospital had reacted faster than the government. She also praised Asha for her courage. "Even when she had high fever, Asha never expressed any negativity," Ravindranath said.
Omna said she had raised Asha and her son, Abhilash, after her husband's death 15 years ago. Asha had started working as a nurse after completing her nursing course but Abhilash is a third-year engineering student in a Tamil Nadu college. Asha's sudden death had created worries about his future as well, Omna said.
"She was my only support here. All other members of my family live in Kerala," she said.
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