jaipur

Updated: Aug 28, 2017 14:30 IST

The Bharatiya Janata Party legislator from the Mandalgarh constituency in Rajasthan’s Bhilwara district, Kirti Kumari, died of influenza A (H1N1), commonly referred to as swine flu in India, while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Jaipur on Monday. She was 50.

Kumari complained of breathlessness on Sunday and was rushed to a hospital in Kota from where she was shifted to Jaipur’s Sawai Man Singh Hospital and then to the Fortis Hospital. Kumari was placed on a ventilator but despite treatment from a medical team comprising 12 doctors, she breathed her last at around 7am on Monday.

“She was keeping unwell for the past five to six days during her stay in Bijolia, and we had advised her to get proper treatment, but she said she was fine. We had called local physicians at home for her treatment but took her to a hospital in Kota and later shifted her to SMS hospital (in Jaipur) when her condition deteriorated,” Kumari’s brother Bhojraj told the Hindustan Times.

Kumari belonged to the former royal family of Bijolia.

Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje expressed grief at her untimely death. “Her demise is a huge loss for me and for the BJP family,” she tweeted in Hindi.

Some Rajput community leaders alleged negligence in her treatment and said the government didn’t show promptness in ensuring treatment at best facility in Jaipur.

“The death happened due to the negligence of the health department. She was not given proper treatment at the SMS Hospital and shifting to Fortis was delayed. No senior politician or minister from the government visited her when she was admitted to the SMS Hospital,” Rajput Sabha Bhavan president Giriraj Singh Lotwara said.

However, her brother denied any negligence in her treatment. “As far as I know there was no negligence in her treatment,” Bhojraj told HT.

The legislator’s supporters reached in large numbers after they heard about her sudden demise. A pall of gloom descended in her home constituency of Mandalgarh where Kumari was a popular leader.

She was active in state politics for many years and defeated her Congress rival by a large margin in the 2013 assembly elections.

According to the Union ministry of health, there have been 1094 swine flu-related deaths in 2017, with the maximum 342 casualties being reported in August only. It said the highest number of deaths was recorded in Maharashtra at 437, followed by Goa with 269 and Rajasthan with 69 deaths according to the report released for the 33rd week of this year.