Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Dengue under control, says Ramadoss

Dengue under control, says Ramadoss - NDTV.com - News on Dengue under control, says Ramadoss: "Union Health Minister Ambumani Ramadoss has asked people not to panic even as more dengue cases were reported from the capital and northern India.

The Health Minister said 497 people in all have been officially diagnosed with dengue and there have been 12 deaths but the situation is under control. Alarmed by the increase in dengue cases, Ramadoss has called for a meeting of the affected states on October 5.

"I am meeting the Health Ministers of Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan on Thursday. We will discuss steps for preventing its spread," he told reporters. The minister also expressed concern at why premier hospital AIIMS had become such a hotspot for dengue.

Many resident doctors had fallen ill and one doctor has also died from dengue at the hospital. AIIMS doctors are now saying that mosquitoes could have become resistant to chemical sprays and they will conduct research to determine it.

They said they have been spraying chemicals the past months so there is no other reason for the outbreak in AIIMS.

Earlier, on Tuesday morning Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit held an emergency cabinet meeting, which was attended by senior officials of the government. The Delhi government has decided that it will not declare the dengue as an epidemic for the time being as the disease had claimed 14 lives till now.

Schools have been asked to implement the winter uniforms now instead of in November. While this doesn't necessarily mean jerseys and jackets, it could include long sleeved shirts and trousers. All ministers have been given the duty of monitoring and supervising the cleanliness drive in their respective areas.

A special drive will also be carried out in Delhi government hospitals to provide blood platelets and beds and wards for dengue patients. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi has cancelled leave of its employees and is trying to procure more fogging machines from other government departments. At the moment, the MCD has 375 small and 12 big fogging machines.

Dengue now appears to be spreading to other parts of north India. In Haryana, the number of dengue cases is 19, eight people have tested positive in Panchkula and Kurukshetra and 11 cases have been confirmed in Gurgaon.

One person has died in Pune's KEM hospital due to dengue. KEM has treated about 70 patients in the past three months but doctors are not calling the situation serious. They have confirmed that one person died last week because of the disease.

In Rajasthan the government has officially confirmed that seven people have died due to Dengue. Another 193 confirmed cases have been reported from across the state in the past two months.

Besides dengue 20 people have died due to malaria in the state in the past two months and over 2000 are now suffering from malaria in the state. Reports coming in from Uttar Pradesh say 70 cases of dengue have been reported from 68 districts of the states.

State capital Lucknow reported 22 cases while Noida has 18 cases. So far four people have died due to dengue in the state in past 10 weeks. Separately, an NDTV undercover reporter who toured the special dengue ward at AIIMS reveals the hospital is not equipped to deal with a steady stream of patients.

At AIIMS, dengue patients were found applying saline drips to other patients belying government claims that extra doctors were deployed to deal with the situation. The All India Institute of Medical Sciences or AIIMS is considered India's top medical facility.

Pictures shot by hidden camera at the hospital show patients accommodated in corridors and tents after the ward ran short of beds in the wake of dengue outbreak. The NDTV team at the hospital reports, "not a doctor or nurse could be seen at the ward and patients complained no one was willing to listen to them".

A patient suspected to be ill with the disease said, he was refused admission to AIIMS - the hospital saying it cannot take any more patients. On Monday, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi issued notices to a dozen hospitals in the capital for allowing mosquitoes breed on their premises.

The Delhi health department has deployed an additional 2,400 officials to contain the outbreak. It also plans to launch an intensive mass awareness drive through advertisements in newspapers about the disease. They also want to take necessary preventive measures such as keeping coolers clean and not accumulating water in and around residential and office complexes. (With PTI inputs)"

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This Ramdoss guy needs to be FIRED for his cover-up and not been able to manage Dengue outbreak.