Viral fever on the rise in Mysuru; kids worst hit

With a large number of children suffering from viral fever, infections and other health complications, hospitals in the city, including the Cheluvamba Hospital run by the state government, have been admitting many patients.

The staff, both medical and para-medical of the century-old Cheluvamba Hospital are finding it difficult to treat the children due to shortage of infrastructure and facilities. Even parents are a worried lot as they need to wait for three to four days to get blood reports. The situation is not different in private hospitals and clinics as many parents bring their children for treatment and checkup.

Cheluvamba Hospital has a total bed capacity of 410, including 130 beds in the paediatric wards and 280 beds in obstetrics and gynaecology wards. Of the 130 beds in the paediatric wards, 90 beds are full while the remaining are reserved for newborn babies. At present as many as 120 children are undergoing treatment in the hospital.

According to a doctor, normally 15 to 20 children are admitted to the hospital but in recent days the number has almost doubled due to the spread of viral fever. A few children have also been admitted to the hospital after they were diagnosed with dengue. Many children from neighbouring districts also come to Mysuru for treatment. There is likewise a shortage of beds. According to the doctors, children are suffering from health complications due to climatic changes.

Apart from offering services to the routine obstetric, gynaecology and paediatric patients, the hospital has specialised units providing neonatal care, paediatric surgery, diarrhoeal diseases treatment and immunisation and other specialities.

The hospital has a facility to test dengue and the samples are also sent to the District Health Office to perform Elisa test to confirm dengue.

‘No dengue deaths’

District Health Officer (DHO) Dr B Basavaraju confirmed that no dengue death has been reported in the district, so far. The children might have died of pneumonia or other diseases, he said.

A parent of a child who has been admitted to Cheluvamba Hospital alleged that the doctors are not attending to their child regularly. “The doctors suspect that the child might have dengue and are waiting for the blood sample report for the past two days,” he said.