Family believes negligence largely responsible for death of boy, 12, by dengue

Lokesh Ibrahim, a 12-year-old student of the Skeldon Line Path Secondary, died after complications with dengue and his family is convinced he could have been saved had the doctors at the Skeldon Hospital took his illness seriously.

Lokesh was the eldest of three children. According to his aunt, Ashmina, his mother first took him to the Skeldon Hospital on Saturday.

“His mom took him there on Saturday and she [doctor in charge] refused to do any blood test because she is claiming she didn’t have a form to write the blood test up to prescribe it so she sent him home and asked them to go back on Tuesday,” Ashmina explained.

By Tuesday, Lokesh’s condition had worsened and his mother took him back to the hospital.

“When his mom took him to hospital on Tuesday, his condition got worse, they had him there from 9 in the morning until about 3 something they got some blood results back, when the blood result didn’t show what she wanted to see, then she requested a dengue test, mind you everybody is sick with dengue and that is not the first test she did,” Ashmina told the News Room.

Lokesh remained at the hospital until 21:00hrs, during which time his condition deteriorated rapidly.

“He started passing gas and started to mess up his skin,” his aunt said.

It was only at that point that doctors decided to transfer him to the New Amsterdam Hospital. Tragically, the child died at New Amsterdam.

Ashmina said a post mortem conducted on Thursday showed that Lokesh suffered a brain edema, kidney failure, and lung failure with internal bleeding.

“They said the dengue is the reason why he got the complications,” Ashmina said.

Lokesh’s younger sister was also admitted to the New Amsterdam Hospital with dengue symptoms but has since been discharged.

The family is now calling for accountability and hopes the health authorities can take urgent action.

Region Six has reported a concerning 332 new dengue fever cases for April 2025.

During the monthly statutory meeting of the Region Six Regional Democratic Council on Thursday, Regional Chairman David Armogan said two young children have died recently from dengue related complications.