Diphtheria death toll 41 in Punjab: YDA

LAHORE

The Young Doctors Association (YDA), Punjab, has claimed that another child patient has died of diphtheria in Mayo Hospital, which raised the death toll to 41 in Punjab so far. 

A 4-year-old child patient, Iftikhar, son of Nanha, a resident of Sharaqpur Sharif, Reg No 1753, Ward Reg No 280, in Mayo Hospital, was suffering from diphtheria and expired on late Sunday night. The child patient, who had five days of history of difficulty in deglutition and severe respiratory distress, had his diphtheria membrane bleed on peeling confirmed by ENT Department in Mayo Hospital. The patient stayed at the hospital from 10am Sunday morning till 3am Monday morning. 

YDA, Punjab’s Children Hospital chapter President Dr Saud informed that the death toll due to diphtheria has reached 41 including 25 expiries at Children’s Hospital, Lahore, 10 at Allied Hospital, Faisalabad, 5 at DHQ Hospital, Faisalabad, and one at Mayo Hospital. 

He said total death toll of 41 also included four deaths of children, which had not been registered in the official record of casualties due to diphtheria. Out of these four, two sisters of Shahdara died at home after one of them returned from Children’s Hospital without treatment due to unavailability of Anti-Diphtheria Serum (ADS). “Another patient’s parents have claimed that their child died due to diphtheria in emergency ward of Children’s Hospital, he said, adding that the hospital administration has declared the patient as discharged. A similar case was reported from Allied Hospital, Faisalabad.

Meanwhile, it is also learnt that swine flu virus has also hit the City as first death due to this virus has been reported from a private hospital in Lahore the other day. According to details, a 61-year-old woman, Tahir Begum, died of swine flu in a private hospital on Main Boulevard, Allama Iqbal Town. It has raised the death toll due to swine flu to seven, which included three deaths in Multan, two in Rawalpindi and one each in Chakwal and Lahore.