Journalism of Courage
A 33-year-old man from Sinhagad Road died of swine flu late on Saturday night at Global Hospital in Dattawadi,raising the toll in the Pune Municipal Corporation limits since January to 19.
The victim had been suffering from mild fever,cough and breathlessness since April 13. He started having high fever with chills and could also notice blood in sputum from April 18. Since no medication was given from April 13-18,his condition deteriorated.
According to Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) health officials,he had been admitted to Sassoon Hospital on April 18 for a couple of hours.
According to PMC officials,the victim was advised to take admission in a private hospital as most of the ventilators at Sassoon were occupied.
The patient was shifted to Global Hospital on April 18 where he succumbed to the virus on Saturday due to acute respiratory distress syndrome and multi-organ failure.
Acting chief medical officer of PMC Dr S T Pardeshi said the patients relatives had informed them about the unavailability of ventilator at Sassoon.
However,Dr B B Kadam,in-charge of the swine flu section at Sassoon,categorically denied this.
We have 16 ventilators and 13 ICU beds. Many patients have recovered from swine flu here and have been discharged, he said.
