Events that occurred last week turned their lives upside down when Thushari Menaka and Jayaraman Jayakrishnan lost their only son. They could only remain helpless spectators as fate took a cruel twist.
Now that everything is over, they are only blaming themselves for trusting the state health services.
Six-year-old Jayaraman Jayakrishnan Danushan bade an abrupt goodbye to his parents and to the world last week.
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| Grief-stricken parents Thushari Menaka and Jayaraman Jayakrishnan |
Danushan ... dengue victim |
“We should have admitted him to a private hospital. We never knew it would end up like this,” his grandfather Perumal Sinnalakan says.
The family’s nightmare started on July 21 when Danushan returned from school, complaining of a headache.
Mother Thushari felt that Danushan’s body was warm during his afternoon nap by her side. “He had high temperature but the fever subsided after I gave him Panadol,” she said.
The following day the temperature persisted. This alarmed the parents, who decided to consult a private doctor. The boy was given medication and returned home.
The night passed by with no improvement in the boy’s condition.
The anxious parents, taking no chance, then decided to admit the child to Lady Ridgeway.
The family admitted Danushan to the Lady Ridgeway Hospital around 11.30pm on Thursday. Danushan was diagnosed with normal fever based on a blood test carried out the next morning.
Additional blood tests were done on July 23 and 24 but the doctors failed to diagnose the disease, Thushari alleged.
She also claimed that Danushan had high temperature throughout his stay at the hospital.
“On July 23, the doctor who was doing the rounds had pinched him on his ear. When the child moved, he commented that it was not dengue and that there was no cause for worry,” Perumal Sinnalakan said. “This came as a relief to us.”
But the child’s condition deteriorated on July 24 as he got fits. “His heart beat and pulse rate were slow and fresh blood tests and a urine culture were carried out. He was also given antibiotic tablets.”
On July 25 Sunday, they were asked to get his blood tested from Asiri Hospital, Narahenpita.
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| A clogged canal near Danushan’s home |
Government doctors started treating Danushan for dengue only after a blood test report done at a private hospital confirmed the disease. |
“It was only after checking the blood test reports from Asiri that the government doctors confirmed that the boy is suffering from dengue and started to treat him for the disease,” Perumal Sinnalakan claims.
But Danushan’s family finally lost their battle to save their son and he died on July 27.
“It is sad. We had done everything in our power. We took him to the hospital as soon as he got fever,” his mother says.
But luck was not on their side. “The only mistake that we did was that we trusted a government hospital.
If we had admitted him to a private hospital, he would have got better treatment. We never knew that it was this serious,” Perumal Sinnalakan says.
Lady Ridgeway Hospital deputy director Vijith Gunasekara said: “One cannot diagnose dengue in the first check-up itself. It takes more than one blood test to confirm the disease. Also, it depends on the body type.”
He said he could not comment on the particular case and needed time to look into the matter.
It is normal procedure at a government hospital to ask patients to get a blood test done from a private hospital, he added.
Dr Gunasekara cited ‘high demand’ for sending patients to be tested at private hospitals. “It is not due to the lack of trust in the system,” he insisted. “We never force patients to go to a private hospital. Only those who can afford the prices at private hospitals are asked to go there.”
Meanwhile, the death toll from dengue rose to 171 from 164 last week. Officials say 23,145 cases have so far been reported this year.
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