The death toll due to dengue in Uttar Pradesh's Firozabad rose to 50 on Friday with at least 40 of the deaths occurring among children. Three fresh fatalities pushed the number up to 50 and ten areas in the district have been affected.
Chief Medical Officer Dinesh Kumar Premi confirmed the fatalities from the viral fever in a statement on Monday. He added that the district had 36 active camps and 3,719 people, including those with fever, are currently undergoing treatment there.
Amid the rising death toll, District Magistrate Chandra Vijay Singh has made the chief development officer (CDO) the nodal officer of the district to oversee the treatment and other facilities for the patients.
The toll, which stood at 41 on Wednesday, rose to 45 with the death of four more people by late night and to 47 with two more children succumbing to the disease on Thursday.
The district magistrate (DM) suspended three doctors with immediate effect on Thursday on charges of negligence and warned government doctors of strict action for any negligence in the treatment of the patients.
Dr Girish Srivastava of the Primary Health Centre at Salai, Dr Ruchi Srivastava, a public health expert, and Dr Saurav were suspended.
Firozabad's Chief Medical Officer Neeta Kulshresth was removed on Wednesday following the spate of deaths, mostly of children, since August 18 due to suspected cases of dengue.
A senior medical department official said cases similar to those in Firozabad have also been reported from the nearby districts of Mathura, Etah and Mainpuri.
Meanwhile, BJP MLA Manish Asija claimed that on the basis of information available with him, the death toll has climbed to 61.
Asija said he is constantly moving about in the area to meet the victims' families and collecting information about the deaths.
(With inputs from PTI)
