Dinesh Kumar's 11-year-old son died of dengue in 2010. Last month, he lost his 11-year-old daughter to the disease
The deaths of two young boys from dengue outraged the country after reports that both had been refused treatment by a number of Delhi hospitals. The
parents of one of the children jumped off a four-storey building in South Delhi over the weekend, forcing the government to intervene urgently in a crisis which has spiraled into the
capital's worst dengue outbreak in five years.
Others may find it hard to disbelieve that the reported callousness of hospitals cost two young lives. Not Dinesh Kumar. In 2010, his 11-year-old son, Ankit, died of dengue. Last month, he lost his 11-year-old daughter, Maneka, to the epidemic.
"Both my children are dead, I'm helpless. I told the doctors I will sell my house my everything but save my kids," said Mr Kumar, 45, in his house in Madanpur Khadar in South Delhi. Outside, on the streets of his neighbourhood, children play in stagnant water. Despite the dengue outbreak, no major clean-up effort of fumigation has been seen here.
Mr Kumar says for both his children, he begged doctors not to delay the treatment. But he claims that last month, doctors at one hospital ordered him to move his feverish daughter to another; she died two days later. Medical records show the 11-year-old died of a heart attack.
Maneka's 11-year-old brother died five years ago. He too was moved between hospitals. At the state-run where he died, his family says they waited several hours to get a doctor's attention.
The government has warned that hospitals will lose licenses if they turn away dengue patients.
Surprise checks are being carried out at state-run hospitals by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and other ministers. But the wards at hospitals are packed with patients in need of assistance, and not enough doctors to attend to them urgently.
So far this year, more than 1,900 cases have been reported - and experts warn that the crisis will peak in October after the monsoon ends.