NEW DELHI: A committee set up by the Delhi government to look into recent deaths attributed to
dengue
and
chikungunya claimed on Saturday that there had been no confirmed fatalities due to either of the mosquito-borne diseases so far. The panel said only two deaths could be due to dengue.
A total 20 fatalities -13 chikungunya-related and seven due to dengue -reported by several hospitals, including Sir Ganga Ram, Apollo, AIIMS, Hindu Rao and Max, were reviewed by the committee.
In its report, a copy of which is with TOI, the panel listed co-morbidities such as sepsis, kidney injury and pneumonia as complications that may have led to the deaths. The panel included municipal health officer (
East Corporation
) Dr N R Das, state epidemiologist Dr
Navneet Sharma
, microbiologist Shahid A Khan and head of the dengue control cell Dr S M Raheja.
For example, while Sir
Ganga Ram Hospital
stated that Ashok Chauhan, 62, died due to chikungunya, the expert committee opined that the patient had acute febrile illness with septic shock, acute kidney injury , multi-organ dysfunction, hypertension with co-morbid condition of chikungunya -thereby suggesting the other co-morbidities led to his death. Similarly, in case 60-year old Purnima Singh from
Saket
while Max hospital re ported it to be a case of chikungunya
death the medical board listed out co-morbidities such as diabetes, acute kidney injury sepsis with septic shock to opine that the viral illness did not cause the death. In at least three death cases attributed to chikungunya and four death cases attributed to dengue, the committee ruled out the hospital's report citing lack of supportive documents.
“The hospitals are creating a panic. The committee went through all the documents and concluded that most patients died due to comorbidities they already suffered from. Chikungunya virus did not kill them. In case of dengue deaths, supportive documents were missing in at least four cases,“ Dr Raheja told TOI.
TOI spoke to few doctors from hospitals that have reported the deaths and they said the co-morbidities such as sepsis or acute kidney injury happen only when there is a serious infection. “If the patient is positive for chikungunya, it is clear that the virus has led to complications and death,“ said a doctor, who did not want to be quoted. He said that government wants to suppress truth to hide its failure in preventing the health crisis.
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