14-year-old’s death and missing health minister force Yeddyurappa to review dengue strategy.
The death of a Class 9 student of Bethany High School in Koramangala on Sunday, suspected to be due to dengue, has forced the health department and the chief minister’s office to do some serious rethinking on their dengue strategy.
The 14-year-old boy’s death and the piling complaints about health minister B Sriramulu’s inability to handle the situation have upset chief minister BS Yeddyurappa who has now decided to take matters into his own hands.
Yeddyurappa on Tuesday will convene a meeting of health department officials to review measures being taken to prevent dengue and chikungunya from spreading in the city. “I will review the measures taken to provide effective treatment for the patients, (and see) whether hospitals have adequate stock of medicines and enough staff. I will instruct all primary health centres to gear up and meet the challenge head-on,” he said on Monday.
It is evident that the promise Sriramulu made a week ago of streamlining communication between hospitals and the health department has not been kept.
When DNA contacted Sriramulu’s office on Monday, an officer said they have not received any information about the Bethany death. The principal of the school, Akash Ryall, told DNA that the school will remain closed on Tuesday to mourn the boy’s death.
“The boy was unwell for some time. We went to see the boy in the hospital. He was in coma before he died,” Bethany High School headmaster Robert Khin said.
Health officials are waiting for confirmation from Pune-based National Institute of Virology (NIV) . BBMP’s chief health officer LT Gayatri said she had informed the medical health officer concerned to inquire into the case.
Bangalore, so far this year, has reported 241 confirmed cases related to dengue. However, no dengue related death has been reported so far, confirmed sources in the BBMP.
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