An adolescent girl died of dengue on Friday at the staterun R G Kar Medical College Hospital in Kolkata. Family members of the deceased and local residents accused the local Habra Municipality for its failure to take adequate measures to prevent dengue caused by mosquito bites in the municipal area after her death.

They also alleged that the government hospital does not have infrastructure and enough staff to treat critically ill dengue-infected patients. The deceased Debjani Das was a student of Class-VI at Habra Girls’ High School. She had fever on and from 11 August and was taken to a local physician, who advised her for dengue confirmatory serological test.

The test report showed her dengue positive and she was admitted to the Habra State General Hospital. She was recovering gradually but her temperature shot up suddenly with vomiting. According to her family sources, one doctor attending to her administered two injections on her considering her deteriorating condition with high fever and vomiting.

But her condition deteriorated fast and the doctor advised her family to take her to a hospital in Kolkata. On the way to Kolkata the patient was taken to the government Barasat Medical College Hospital on 18 August for emergency treatment for several hours because of her deteriorating condition. But she was denied admission there because of non-availability of bed and shifted to another state government hospital RG Kar Medical College where she died on Sunday.

“Ill-equipped Habra State General Hospital could not save my daughter. The doctors could not take proper treatment for her. Most of the residents in our area are suffering from dengue-like symptoms of fever, pain on joints, vomiting but the municipal authorities have failed to take preventive measures like cleaning of blocked sewerage system, garbage, stagnant water and spraying mosquito repellents,” one member of the deceased’s family alleged.

On Wednesday, a 13-yearold boy from New Alipore’s Sahapur Colony died of dengue in the city. Srijan Bose was first admitted to a hospital near Minto Park and shifted to a premier private hospital along EM Bypass on Tuesday. More than 700 dengue cases have been reported in the city since January this year. A number of people, including children, have died of the mosquito-borne disease