KALLAKURICHI: The death toll of the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy has risen to 65 after a 40-year-old man receiving treatment at JIPMER in Puducherry passed away on Friday, said official sources. As of Friday evening, 19 people were still receiving treatment at three different government hospitals -- Kallakurichi, Salem and JIPMER -- and 15 were discharged on the same day, increasing the total number of victims discharged to 144.
No victim is now receiving treatment in Villupuram and Royapettah government hospitals, said sources. Meanwhile, the patients who returned home refused to comment on the treatment they had received. A handful of them claimed there was not enough manpower at the hospital wards and some of the patients were not assigned a staff nurse to properly hand them over their discharge summaries.
However, hospital sources refuted the allegations, claiming over 150 nurses and medical personnel deployed for the hooch tragedy treatment are still on duty. Kallakurichi GMCH dean said there are a total of 163 staff nurses, with almost one nurse assigned for every two patients in the last two days. Restricting visitors to the Intensive Care Unit to avoid the spread of infection may have triggered some of them, leading to such complaints, the dean said. "Patients with pre-existing conditions like diabetes and irregular blood pressure are kept for a longer observation period. We now have a fewer number of patients who will be discharged soon," the dean added.