A three-month-old child suffering from fever and respiratory distress died at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) in Siliguri in the wee hours today.

Sources at the NBMCH said that the girl had been referred to the hospital from the Kharibari hospital in Darjeeling district near Siliguri on 18 September. “She had been suffering from fever and respiratory problems and also had severe pneumonia. She was undergoing treatment in the paediatric ward in a serious condition,”‘ the sources said.

According to the NBMCH superintendent, Dr Sanjay Mallik, timely referral of patients and timely admission in hospitals was very important. It is learnt that 13 children suffering from fever have been admitted in the NBMCH in the last 24 hours.

Earlier, a nine-month-old baby from Jalpaiguri had died in the neonatal intensive care unit of the NBMCH on 14 September. Paediatricians had then said that the child, who had been admitted on 11 September, was suffering from multiple diseases like congenital heart disease.

They said the baby had also been suffering from heart ailments by birth. Also, a two-month-old child of Banarhat in Jalpaiguri had died due to sepsis and acute respiratory distress in the paediatric intensive care unit of the NBMCH on 17 September, sources had said.

NBMCH authorities, however, said the death could not be linked with the latest outbreak of fever and respiratory illnesses were seen among children across north Bengal. In Malda, another child died of fever and shortness of breath in the Malda Medical College and Hospital (MMCH) on Tuesday night, sources at the hospital said.

According to the MMCH sources, the child hailed from Kamalpur under the Malda police station. She was admitted in the hospital with fever and shortness of breath yesterday. The sources said that 127 children are presently undergoing treatment for fever inthe children’s ward of the ‘Matrima’ ward of the medical college. In the last 24 hours, 26 children have been admitted there with fever, though 15 were discharged after treatment today.

“Three children are, however, in critical condition with fever and respiratory problems,” a source said. Hospitals in several north Bengal districts have seen an unusual flow of children suffering from fever, cold and cough, and breathing problems of late. Amid the concerns and the talk of the anticipated third wave ofCovid-19 hitting the region soon and amid claims that the same would affect children the most, doctors and state officials have said that the virus stalking these children was mostly the common respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) or other common viruses.

Several samples of the ailing children sent from Siliguri and Jalpaiguri to the School of Tropical Medicine in Kolkata have tested positive for the RSV. The situation prompted the state government to send a team of experts to north Bengal, who have already visited the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital, the Siliguri District Hospital (SDH) and the Jalpaiguri District Hospital (JDH).

As the team said that there was nothing to be alarmed about, around 100 beds have been augmented at the NBMCH and SDH to accommodate more children.