New Delhi: Over 1,800 dengue cases have been reported in Delhi so far with just 600 in the last one week alone. Dengue patients are being turned away by hospitals, and its been alleged that people have been dying, because medical attention was not at hand. “This is the worst outbreak in the last five years and it is going to further increase as the weather remains humid,” YK Mann, director of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, told news agency AFP.Transmitted to humans by the female Aedes Aegypti mosquito, dengue causes high fever, headaches, itching and joint pains that last about a week.
The Delhi government has ordered a magisterial probe into the death of a seven-year-old child – suffering from dengue – who was allegedly turned away by a number of hospitals. His parents then committed suicide.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s government, on Monday, ordered 1,000 extra beds in hospitals to treat dengue patients. Doctors at state-run hospitals have been told to cancel their leave immediately.
Delhi Health Minister Satyender Jain told NDTV that an inquiry has been initiated against five hospitals, adding that their licenses could be cancelled if found guilty. “Five hospitals have been given notice… We will examine the CCTV footage and check all records,” Mr Jain said.
As well as the extra beds, Mr Jain has ordered “fever clinics” be set up at overwhelmed hospitals to help with the numbers. “I have ordered all government hospitals that they should not refuse to admit dengue patients even if they have to treat two patients on a single bed,” he said.
Dengue fever, also known as “breakbone disease” which has no known vaccination or cure, strikes fear into the citizens of Delhi when it arrives with the monsoon rains.
Hospitals across the capital are stretched to breaking, with patients sharing beds and scores jostling at government health facilities for free tests for the fever.
