Spurt in dengue cases in Delhi, AIIMS student dies

New Delhi, Sep 30 (UNI) A final year medical student died of dengue today at the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) amid a spurt in the disease in the capital.

Raj Kiran, a student hailing from Andhra Pradesh, was shifted to the neurosurgery ICU after suffering a massive brain haemorrhage due to dengue virus infection, but could not be saved, hospital sources said.

At least 7 other AIIMS students were admitted to the new private wards of the hospital. Over two dozen other family members of AIIMS staff suffering from dengue also were admitted to the hospital, they said.

Hospital spokesman Shakti K Gupta and other officials could not be reached for comments.

Hospital sources, however, said there has been an increase in the number of dengue cases being reported in the hospital over the past week.

''How can a hospital which cannot stop breeding of mosquitoes claim to be the country's most prestigious hospital,'' said Dr Vikas Bajpai of the Progressive Medicos and Scientists Forum, criticising the AIIMS administration for not taking preventive steps even after the recent death due to dengue of the daughter of a senior resident doctor.

Scores of people with dengue fever were admitted to other hospitals in the city as well, official sources said.

As many as 50-65 patients suffering from dengue, ''confirmed clinically as well as through laboratory tests'', have been treated in the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital over the last ten days, a hospital official said.

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