Pregnant woman with dengue battles for life in City hospital

A 29-year-old pregnant woman is battling for life in the intensive care unit of Lok Nayak Hospital after she was diagnosed with dengue on October 21.Doctors said with low blood platelets, her condition is critical.

Mohini, a nurse with Govind Ballabh Pant Hospital, was first treated in another hospital and shifted here on Sunday when her condition showed no improvement. As she is nine months pregnant, the life of her baby is in danger.

Her platelet count is 81,000 and continues to decline.

“She is on ventilator and the doctor said her condition is critical,” said her husband Vinod Kumar. Mohini is pregnant with their first child. He said they were expecting her to deliver any time, but now things were uncertain. “Doctors have not told anything about the child so far. I pray both of them remain safe,” said Kumar.

The nurse has been already transfused with many bottles of blood. Dengue continues to wreak havoc on the city as the number of cases is inching towards the 1,000 mark. With 36 more cases reported on Tuesday, the total number has risen to 985. No new case was diagnosed in New Delhi Municipal Council area.

South Delhi Municipal Corporation continued its lead with 16 cases, while North Corporation and East Corporation had 10 new cases each. So far, South Corporation has reported a total of 371 dengue cases, North Corporation 321 and East Corporation 249 cases.

The season has seen two deaths due to the vector-borne disease. While 976 cases originated in Delhi, nine came from other states.
With rising dengue cases, builders failing to remove mounds of rubble from construction sites may have to pay heavier penalty of up to Rs 10,000 as these sites across the city were identified as breeding grounds for mosquito causing the disease.

A meeting presided over by Health Minister A K Walia today, decided to take a number of measures to contain the spread of the disease, including enhancing the existing fine of Rs 500 for allowing conditions conducive to mosquito breeding.
“A final decision on enhancing the fine will be taken soon,” said a senior official. He said the existing fine of Rs 500 was fixed in 1975 and Walia has directed his department to enhance it.

He said fine could be in the range of Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000. The government has also decided to ask manufacturers of overhead tanks to ensure wire mesh around the lid so that mosquitos cannot enter the tanks.