SALEM/TIRUCHY/THOOTHUKUDI:A 77-year-old man, who was admitted to the Salem Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College Hospital (SGMKMCH) with H1N1 symptoms, reportedly died of heart attack here on Saturday.
Sources said that Avasthi (77), a resident of Steel Plant and a native of Rajasthan, was referred to the Salem Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College Hospital by a private hospital here, which suspected that he had swine flu. On Friday morning, he was admitted to the SGMKMCH, where a special team treated him at the isolation ward for H1N1 cases. However, during the wee hours of Saturday, Avasthi died at the hospital.
Speaking to Express, Dean N Mohan told that when Avasthi was admitted to the SGMKMCH on Friday. He already had complaints of blood pressure, asthma and heart kidney and lung ailments.
“But, Avasthi did not take medicines for his problems properly. He suffered a cardiac arrest on Saturday morning and died. We are yet to receive his test results from Coimbatore to where his blood samples were sent,” the Dean told Express.
In Tiruchy, a 36-year-old man from the city infected with H1N1 was admitted to Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital (MGMGH) on Friday. With this, the number of swine flu cases reported in the district rose to six with Tiruchy city alone accounting for five cases. Health officials said the latest patient, a wholesale trader of grocery items and a resident of Anna Nagar in Thennur, went to Tirupati a week ago. He returned to the district two days ago with high fever. Family members admitted him to the MGMGH on Friday and his blood samples were sent for tests as he showed H1Nisymptoms of swine flu.
“Since the patient had travelled to Tirupati, we strongly suspect that he should have contracted the flu from there,” said a health official.
In another case, a H1N1 infected woman was admitted to Thanjavur medical college hospital on Saturday. Despite treatment, there was no improvement in her condition.
So, doctors suspected that the patient could have been infected with H1N1. Meanwhile, a 27-year-old software engineer employed at Bangalore suspected of swine flu was admitted to the Thoothukudi government hospital, on Saturday.
Sources said that the techie identified as Stalin Srinivasan of Thoothukudi was having high fever for the past few days during his stay in Bengaluru.