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Flu: 4 die in B?luru, 1 in Mumbai
Age Correspondents
BENGALURU/MUMBAI
Aug. 26: Four more people were confirmed to have died of H1N1 flu in Bengaluru on Wednesday, taking the H1N1 toll in the city to 19, even as 7,000 government doctors across Karnataka threatened to resign en masse on September 28 over wage discrepancies, but health authorities maintained that the state is prepared to deal with a full-blown outbreak of the pandemic.
In Mumbai, relatives of Sandeep Gaikwad who died on Tuesday of H1N1 flu have filed an application against doctors who treated the patient.
They claim that he could have been cured if the treatment was timely and will demand compensation in crores as they have lost a son who was a young engineer.
Sandeep Gaikwad (28) was a petrochemical engineer at Rolta India Limited at Seepz.
While Gaikwad?s family had gone to Dhule for his last rites, Mr Dinkar Sonkambe, Gaikwad?s brother-in-law spoke from Dhule saying that there has been a lot of negligence on the part of the doctors.
He further said, "Gaikwad first got swine flu symptoms on July 22 when he was sent to a local doctor in Saki Naka. Then, he was sent to Paramount Nursing home on July 31 from where he was referred to Dr LH Hiranandani Hospital on August 3."
Until date, 1,431 patients have completed their H1N1 flu treatment while 68 patients are currently undergoing treatment for swine flu in the state. So far, 43 deaths have occurred in Maharashtra .
Meanwhile, Karnataka doctors in the department of health and family welfare, who have given the government a month to meet their demands, held an emergency meeting with senior officials including health commissioner P. Sreenivasachary on Wednesday. However, the talks made little headway, with the authorities apparently unwilling to agree to the doctors? demand that their pay be brought on par with that of their counterparts in the medical education department.
"We will resign if our demands are not met. We have been pressing for a wage revision for over a year," said H.N. Ravindra, president, Karnataka Government Medical Officers? Association, adding that they are also asking for regularisation of service for doctors on contract.
A worried health department, trying to arrive at a via media formula, claimed that the doctors would not act on their threat. "We will reach a solution soon. The doctors will not take such a drastic step," health commissioner Sreenivasachary claimed.
The latest swine flu victim in the city, a 38-year-old man, died of complications from H1N1 infection in Sagar Hospital on Wednesday. Nagaraju, a resident of Chamarajpet and a diabetic, had been admitted to the hospital on August 15 with severe symptoms of swine flu. He was put on ventilator immediately and given Tamiflu. Test reports confirmed on August 17 that Nagaraju had swine flu. Doctors said he also had pneumonia and was on medication for that as well. Despite being treated, his condition deteriorated and he expired at 2 am on Wednesday.
A woman who died in St. Martha?s Hospital on August 24 after being admitted to the facility a day earlier was on Wednesday confirmed to have died of swine flu. Pushpalatha Bhakthesh, 35, who lived in Chandra Layout, was in critical condition when she was referred to St. Martha?s from a private nursing home, doctors said.
A 45-year-old man died of the contagion shortly after being admitted to KIMS Hospital on August 24. Doctors said Venkatesh had been admitted in a very advanced stage of the disease and could not be treated. Throat swabs taken from him tested positive for H1N1 on Wednesday.
A man who was admitted to St. Philomena?s Hospital with severe swine flu symptoms on August 22 and died the same day also tested positive for H1N1 on Wednesday. Munirathnam P., 48, a resident of Ulsoor, had also been suffering from liver disease. He was put on Tamiflu but died eight hours after being brought to the hospital.
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