Harish Chauhan was treated for liver infection at Batra Hospital in Delhi.
The latest case of
dengue death, where a 38-year-old resident of South Delhi's Deoli Village died within a week after showing symptoms, exposes the apparent apathy by the
hospitals in the National Capital.
Harish Chauhan succumbed to the disease even after family spent over Rs 3.5 lakh for his treatment.
Mr Chauhan's family claimed that two hospitals couldn't diagnose dengue in time and the third hospital treated him for liver infection instead.
His brother Mukesh Chauhan said the family took him to Madan Mohan Malviya Hospital on the September 11 as soon as he
developed fever. But the hospital didn't treat him for dengue and gave him an injection.
By 12th morning, Mr Chauhan's condition deteriorated and was taken to Safdarjung Hospital. The hospital did not refuse admission, but sent him to the medicine ward and gave him intravenous treatment.
"There was
overcrowding in the ward and four patients were allotted one bed. We asked him to be admitted to a normal ward, but we were told that there were no private wards available. That's when we decided to move Harish to a private hospital," brother Mukesh Chauhan said.
But the ordeal was far from over. The family admitted Mr Chauhan to Batra Hospital on September 12 where he was treated for liver infection instead.
According to the family, Mr Chauhan was treated for a liver infection for the first five days. It was only on the sixth day on September 17 that the family was told he had dengue. Within 24 hours of the dengue report, Mr Chauhan passed away.
"What were they doing for five days, when he was running fever and his platelet count was dropping? Why couldn't they treat him from dengue then?" asked the distraught brother.
Mukesh Chauhan claimed that Batra hospital asked him to pay for the 'liver treatment' before they handed of the body to the family.
Mr Chauhan's mother said, "Despite all the media coverage and assurances by government on dengue, it seems nothing has
changed. What were these doctors doing?"
Both Safdurjung and Batra have said that they will go through case diaries of Harish Chauhan and come out with their respective responses.