Babies victims of chikungunya, dengue in city

Parents are filled with anxiety

Children suffering from dengue and chikungunya, many of them just a few months old,  fill Delhi-government’s Chacha Nehru Bal Chikatsalya.

Since many doctors at the children's hospital were on leave on Tuesday due to Dussehra, some parents faced problems when they could not seek immediate attention from seniors in the hospital - though the hospital staff were visiting the wards now and then, said patients’ family members.

Parents were eager to receive the test reports as soon as possible. Six-month-old Chahat’s hands and legs and face were swollen and she was suffering from 102 degrees Celsius fever, said her mother.

She said she is afraid that Chahat may be in more serious than other children in the ward and needed more attention. “She was admitted on Saturday and since then the fever was not coming down,” said Chahat’s mother.

She has been compressing a cold wet cloth on Chahat’s forehead on doctor’s advice and giving her paracetamol. According to the parents in the fever ward of CNBC, their child was the first to be diagnosed by chikungunya in their family.

Priya, mother of two-month-old Kittika who was admitted with chikungunya on Saturday, said that they came from Khekada, Uttar Pradesh to Delhi to celebrate Durga Puja. They came to the hospital from a temple when they spotted a rash on her feet and hands and they were turning blue.

“She was crying out loud and then we noticed the rash and came here, doctors admitted her immediately,” said Priya.

She said that where she lives is a slum area where there is stagnant water near Shri Moksha Dham Temple.  But fumigation drives have been carried out two to three times since September, said Priya.

Eleven-year-old dengue patient Akash Kumar’s father said the same. Akash has been recovering, he said.

In Mandoli Saboli jhuggi jhopri colony where Akash lives stagnant water is very common, said his father. But no one cared before many children came under danger after spread of Chikungunya and dengue. “Children in the locality were more affected than parents,” said Akash’s father.

Two children died of dengue in Delhi-government's CNBC this year. There were a total of 422 cases of dengue and 489 cases of chikungunya reported, said medical superintendent, Dr Anup Mohta.