VELLORE: Within a day of a 4-year-old girl dying of dengue on Tuesday, a 7-year-old boy belonging to Ambur also succumbed to the fever on Wednesday. Deputy Director of Health Service (DDHS) K.S.T. Suresh told Express that A Harish died of dengue at Government Vellore Medical College Hospital (GVMCH) around 11.30 am. The cause of death is pulmonary haemorrhage, he said.
Health Department officials conducted an inquiry and found that the boy had been suffering from fever for over five days and the doctor, R Harish Kumar, who first attended to him, did not follow the protocol set for treating dengue. The department will write to the Tamil Nadu Medical Council seeking action against him.
According to sources, Harish was taken to a private hospital in Madhanur, Ambur, on the first day of fever. However, he was treated as out-patient for three days. When the fever did not go down on the fourth day on Tuesday, Harish was taken to the Gudiyatham government hospital.
Doctors referred him to GVMCH, where he died. Harish’s relatives on Wednesday staged a road roko near Agaram demanding compensation. Ambur tahsildar Ramesh pacified them, promising action. The district has witnessed five dengue deaths in a span of over two weeks, and all the victims were in the 4-12 age group.