TENKASI: A nine-month-old girl died after she was allegedly administered 'native medication' for fever here on Wednesday. According to health staff, the baby, identified as Megha Sabarina, had been suffering from fever for the past four days.
"When the fever broke out at first, her parents administered the baby some medicines from a local pharmacy. But as the baby did not recover, one of her relatives took her to a quack who gave the baby some 'native medication'.
However, after consuming the medicine, the baby's stomach began swelling up and she developed asphyxia. Though the parents rushed her to the government hospital in Alangulam, the baby was declared brought dead by the doctors. Our staff are collecting information regarding the quack," said a doctor of Keezhapavoor block health unit.
Deputy Director (Health), Tenkasi, Murali Shankar said the doctors at Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital would perform the postmortem. "Only after the autopsy report is out, we can confirm whether the baby was affected by dengue fever.
Some dengue cases were reported across the district. In Sambavar Vadakarai alone, we confirmed two dengue cases recently," he added. Meanwhile, the health staff have insisted the private hospitals upload details of every dengue case they are treating on the state government portal without fail.