KARACHI, Oct 15: A prisoner rushed to the Civil Hospital on Saturday night from the Karachi Central Prison with symptoms similar to those of the Viral Hemorrhagic Fever (VHF) died on Sunday.

Jail authorities said that the prisoner, Abdul Majeed, 35, died during treatment on Sunday afternoon. Majeed had been arrested by the Baghdadi police in a dacoity case more than one year back, police said.

IG Prisons Yameen Khan told Dawn that the inmate had developed high fever on Saturday night and was provided treatment at the jail’s hospital, but his condition did not improve. Subsequently, he was shifted to the Civil Hospital where he died during treatment on Sunday afternoon, he added.

“I cannot say confidently that he had contracted the VHF; it is for the doctors to establish the cause of his death,” the IG maintained.

In reply to a question about his strategy in case of more such cases detected in the jail, he said he would seek help and assistance from the health department.

Meanwhile, Medical Superintended of the Civil Hospital Dr Kaleem Butt told Dawn that no fresh patient with symptoms matching those of VHG was admitted to the hospital’s isolation ward, where VHF were being kept.

“It is not necessary that it (Majeed’s case) was a VHF case as high-grade fever could be due to some other ailments. Likewise, VHF patients do not succumb suddenly as is evident from the fact that patients already diagnosed dengue- positive have been receiving treatment at the hospital for six days or more and many of them have since been discharged,” Dr Kaleem Butt said.

NAZIM’S VISIT: City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal, who visited Dr Ziauddin Hospital on Saturday evening to inquire about the health of dengue fever patients, said that the city government would bear 50 per cent of the cost incurred in laboratory test and blood transfusion of all dengue patients in the city, adds PPI.