Swine flu’s death march in the state continued on Monday too when a resident of Rajkot city, Rajesh Undhad, 50, succumbed to the viral disease at the city’s NM Virani Wockhardt Hospital. With Undhad’s death, the H1N1 death toll in the state has risen to seven.
Undhad was admitted to Wockhardt hospital on August 20 after he complained of breathlessness and fever, the hospital authorities said.
Undhad, a resident of Kotharia Road area of Rajkot city, developed fever about a week back. He first got himself admitted to a private hospital on Vidyanagar main road in the city where he was under treatment for a few days.
When his condition began to deteriorate, he was shifted on August 20 (Thursday) to Wockhardt Hospital. The hospital authorities said Undhad was suffering from vomiting, breathlessness and fever at the time of admission. His blood and swab samples were collected and sent to be tested for swine flu infection. The test reports later confirmed that Undhad was H1N1 positive.
When his condition worsened on Saturday night, he was immediately put on a ventilator. Doctors tried hard to save his life but Undhad died early on Monday morning. Very few members of Undhad’s family were allowed to attend his funeral.
His family members told DNA that Undhad had never come in contact with a swine flu patient earlier. “But he was diabetic which is perhaps why he was unable to recover from the infection despite treatment,” a family member said.
However, sources close to the family said Undhad had visited with some friends a number of religious places around the city on Janmashtami day.
Following Undhad’s death, the health department conducted a medical check-up of all his family members, the sources said.
A Morbi industrialist is also under treatment for swine flu at Rajkot’s Wockhardt Hospital.
