Swine flu claims four more lives in Telangana

Hyderabad: Two women who had given birth recently were among the four persons who succumbed to swine flu in the city on Thursday, taking the total number of deaths to 14 since August 1.

Officials said 21-year-old woman who had delivered a baby 10 days ago succumbed to swine flu at Gandhi Hospital early on Thursday morning. At Kushaiguda, a 23-year-old new mother succumbed to swine flu.

A woman from Nalgonda, who was undergoing treatment at Gandhi Hospital, died of the infection while a two-year old girl from Addagutta died in a private hospital in the city.

Earlier in the day, angry relatives of the 21-year-old woman staged a protest outside Gandhi Hospital as the woman had been on ventilator support for the last nine days and her situation hadn’t improved. The relatives had shifted her from Aware Global Hospitals to Gandhi Hospital but her condition was very critical and she died.

A senior doctor of Aware Global Hospitals said, “She was in respiratory intensive care unit and was in a critical condition. The child was delivered in a private nursing home at Moula Ali 10 days ago. The blood samples were sent for testing and swine flu was confirmed. She was put on ventilator support and was in a critical condition but the relatives wanted her to be shifted. They left against medical advice.”

While shifting her to Gandhi Hospital, the relatives failed to realise that her condition had deteriorated. A senior doctor at Gandhi Hospital said, “We had the patient only for a few hours, and before proper treatment could be given, she passed away.”

The upset relatives alleged that proper treatment was not provided at private hospitals. Ms Sudha, the mother of the deceased said, “The delivery was a C-section and the doctors there had said that she should be taken to a super specialty hospital for better treatment. We did just that. But they kept her on ventilator for nine days but there was no improvement, so we shifted her.”

The relatives demanded that the government should have proper rules in place for treating swine flu patients so that they are no problems.

Nine cases have been found positive, taking the total number of cases to 433.