Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said, “We have 10,000 beds and the number of fever clinics has been increased from 55 a year ago to 355”.
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“MCD has become the den of BJP people who do nothing when it comes to sanitation or controlling vector-borne diseases in the city”, Jain alleged, adding, “people of Delhi should dump them for their inaction”. “We are working with Delhi government and various agencies in close coordination”, health minister JP Nadda said, emphasizing on the need for “symptomatic” treatment.
He said hospitals run by the Delhi government were fully prepared to tackle the mosquito menace that causes chikungunya and dengue. In Delhi, 311 cases of dengue were reported till August 20, while 176 cases came to light in last week alone, marking a rise of almost 57%. Though the Municipal Corporation of Delhi claims that only 20 cases of Chikungunya have been reported this year, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), where cases from other states are also examined, has recorded almost twenty times that number in its lab.
“He was brought to the hospital in a critical state on 26 August”.
It also causes rashes in patients but is not a threat like dengue in which there is a risk of bleeding due to abrupt fall in platelet count.
The same period saw 176 new cases of dengue, taking the number to 487 this year. But this year, Chikungunya has taken a precedence over other vector-borne diseases in the National Capital Region (NCR) and experts attribute this phenomenon to the changing weather conditions that have led to high humidity.
Doctors have advised people to keep themselves adequately hydrated and not resort to self-medication, and also to go for blood test before rushing to get admitted in hospital.
According to the NVBDC, over the past three years, there has been a consistent increase in Chikungunya cases in the country-from 16,049 in 2014, to 27,553 in 2015 and 9,990 cases until July 28 this year. However, it does affect patients severely, leaving them with pain in the joints and swelling. “Adequate hydration is the best management approach to dengue while monitoring crucial signs”, said Dr K K Aggarwal, Secretary General, Indian Medical Association.
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After a cap on cost of dengue test last month, Delhi government today announced a similar ceiling for chikungunya, even as the city continues to grapple with rising cases of the two vector-borne diseases.
