Trinidad: Dengue Victim's Family Members Hospitalized

Dengue victim's family members hospitalised Rohandra John rohjohn@trinidadexpress.com Friday, December 19th 2008

AT LEAST two more members of Camille Ramcharan's family had to be rushed to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope yesterday to be treated for dengue. Camille Ramcharan, a 22-year-old UWI engineering student, passed away last week after losing the battle with dengue. Yesterday, her aunt, Merlyn Ramcharan, said her elder sister, Vilma Khan and husband, Habib Khan, had been experiencing dengue-like symptoms over the past few days and were "rushed to the emergency at the Mt Hope hospital" after visiting a private doctor earlier. "They went to the doctor yesterday because they were experiencing all the symptoms, high fever, headache, body pains, they had no appetite, and while there, the doctor called the Mt Hope Hospital and told them to expect two of them, and they were immediately rushed to the hospital," Merlyn said. Only two days ago, the residents of Frederick Settlement Caroni, where Camille once resided with her relatives, staged a protest to highlight what they described as a "deadly dengue outbreak in their community". The residents, irked by Camille's death, said Health Minister Jerry Narace was being less than truthful by claiming there was no dengue outbreak in the country. They also cast blame on the authorities for the situation in their village, saying they had neglected to clean the drains in and around the village for several years now. They said those drains were now filled with silt and stagnant water and have become the breeding ground for mosquitoes. Camille's father, Freddy Ramcharan, who also contracted dengue but survived the ordeal, said more than 50 persons in the village have tested positive for dengue for the year to date. Camille's mother, Shakera Mohammed, has also tested positive for the disease and is being treated at the Mt Hope hospital. Merlyn said they were "all hurting" and want the authorities to intervene and deal with the situation urgently "because people are dying". When contacted yesterday just before noon for comment on this matter, Narace asked the Express to pass on the information to his secretary because he was at a "Cabinet luncheon" and unable to respond to questions. When contacted again later on in the evening, Narace said he had been "extremely busy for the entire day" and had not gotten a chance to read the report about the residents' plight, but would try to do so today and provide a response on the matter.