FIROZABAD: The fever toll in Firozabad district continues to go up, with local sources saying 175 have died so far, of whom 112 were children. The CMO, however, has confirmed only 63 deaths. With hospitals reserving all their resources for patients in critical condition, over 25,000 people are now bed-ridden at home, according to official estimates.
“Over 100 teams of health staffers have been asked to go door-to-door to identify patients and provide them with medicines and assistance,” CMO Dinesh Kumar Premi said. “There is no shortage of platelets or medicines at government centres. Additional ambulances have been arranged to take patients to hospitals. All recent deaths of patients who had viral fever are being investigated.
Health department officials said over 4,000 cases of dengue have been confirmed in Firozabad so far. A few cases of malaria, scrub typhus and leptospirosis have also been reported. When TOI visited Firozabad villages on Saturday, the prevalence of quacks was striking. It was the same scene playing out across Gadhi Tiwari, Sofipur and Nurpur villages — cots under trees where quacks were “treating” fever patients. “Government hospitals are not admitting patients. Over 400 villages are suffering. We depend on quacks, there is no other option,” said Ranveer Singh, a farmer from Nurpur.
The report of an investigation by one of the health teams the state government had sent to Firozabad had said that “initial treatment by quacks operating in slums and rural areas was a major reason” for the increasing number of deaths. “Patients were administered steroids. This provided initial relief, but multiplied the rate of falling platelets. Throwing up blood became common in such cases,” the report added. “Quacks have been a huge issue in Firozabad,” said additional director (health) AK Singh. “The initial treatment they provide is pushing patients to critical state when they finally get to a government hospital.”
In other villages, like Nagla Amaan, Nagla Mavasi and Okhra, lines of houses stood locked, families having fled in fear and for treatment. “Ten families have left the village. It is the same in villages nearby. Almost every family in the village has a member suffering from a dengue-like fever but proper treatment facilities do not exist,” said Anshu Yadav, who runs a grocery shop at Nagla Amaan. The government health centre at the village has been shut for months.
“I sent away my two kids to their aunt in Aligarh. Others have done the same. The only children in the village now are the ones who have come back from hospital,” said Virendra Singh, a farmer from Nagla Mavasi. “Everyone is scared.” While Firozabad has been the epicentre, the viral fever has also claimed lives in Agra, Aligarh, Mathura, Hathras, Bareilly and a few districts of eastern UP over the past month. As of Saturday, 16 people had died after high fever in Agra, of whom 15 were children, Agra CMO Arun Kumar Srivastav said.
