KOTTAYAM: A student of K E College, Mannanam, near here, who was under treatment for Hepatitis-A died at the Government Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, on Monday. The deceased is Prem Sagar,18, a first-year psychology student and son of Suresh hailing from Snehas house, Nemom.
Following his death, various students-wing organisations took out protest march to the college, alleging the filthy condition on the campus led to outbreak of Hepatitis-A and the death of a student.
The march created mild tension in the area. In January, massive Hepatitis outbreak was reported on the campus which was believed to have spread from the well-water of the sports hostel.
The district medical authorities had put the campus under surveillance.
Prem was detected with Hepatitis-A in January and had undergone treatment at his native place. Though, he joined back college after completing the treatment, he returned home recently, after symptoms of the disease re-emerged. He was admitted to Government MCH, Thiruvananthapuram, on April 1 and succumbed to the disease on Monday.
In the wake of Prem’s death, SFI and KSU came out with protest, alleging the college authorities were inactive in containing the disease. A march taken out by SFI activists to the college was blocked by the police on the way, which led to a mild scuffle between the police and the protesters.
Meanwhile, KSU district leadership alleged lapses on the part of the district medical authorities and demanded a government-level inquiry into the incident.
DMO Dr Jacob Varghese dismissed the allegation and said as many as 14 students of the college were diagnosed with Hepatitis - A in January, which was completely brought under control with the effective intervention of the Health Department.
“As per our directions, the college authorities had put in place adequate measures to contain the disease and no new case was reported after that. The place is still under the surveillance of the Health Department,” he said.