'Save Us': Scary Scenes as Mystery Fever Grips Uttar Pradesh

The mystery fever, characterised by high fever, declining platelet count, cold, has gripped many across the state.

There is more than usual rush at the paediatric section of Lucknow's the Civil hospital due to the dengue-like fever. 

(Illustration: Shruti Mathur)

Video Producer: Piyush Rai, Mayank Chawla

Video Editor: Abhishek Sharma, Purnendu Pritam

A helpless father trying to revive his daughter, a wailing mother falling at the feet of a doctor to save her son, an elderly man begging the chief medical officer to save his village — visuals like these have been a common sight across Uttar Pradesh after the outbreak of a dengue-like fever.

The mystery fever, which is characterised by high fever, a sharp drop in platelet count, along with cold and cough, gripped thousands of people in western Uttar Pradesh before spreading across the state.

As of Sunday, 6 September, the fever had already taken at least 51 lives across Uttar Pradesh.

In Lucknow’s Civil hospital, Arun Kashyap’s four-year-old daughter was sitting in the out patient department (OPD) of the Paediatric section of the hospital when her condition deteriorated. She wasn’t keeping well for the past two days and fainted. “Her pupils turned upside down and I threw everything and rushed to get her admitted,” says Kashyap.

The entire state is reeling under the grip of dengue and viral fever and the condition in Lucknow has also worsened.

There is more than usual rush at the paediatric section of the Civil hospital. Parents with complaints of their children suffering from cough, cold, and fever have been thronging the hospital with a huge rush at the registration counters and OPDs. A similar situation prevails in other government hospitals of the city.

"Cases of fever have only increased by 15-20 percent. It has not increased much. The number of patients has increased from 75 to 100."

SK Nanda, CMS Civil hospital, Lucknow

SITUATION IN OTHER DISTRICTS

The situation has turned from bad to worse in other hotspot districts like Firozabad, Mathura, and Baghpat. Despite government claims of all efforts in place to check the wrath of the deadly fever, the situation seems to be slipping out of hand in Firozabad, where the causality is above 70 as of Wednesday, 8 September.

In a recent video from Firozabad, a mother could be seen falling at the feet of a doctor to save her 12-year-old son. There were allegations that the hospital administration did not admit the minor boy for more than an hour till a senior staffer intervened.

"We have 540 kids admitted here. Patients want to get admitted here and they are even willing to share beds. Right now we are admitting everyone as our aim is to save the patient."

Sangeeta Aneja, Principal, Firozabad Medical College

Last week, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was in Firozabad to take stock of the situation. Several nodal officers have been camping in the district to bring the crisis under control but not much change was seen on the ground.