To tackle the rush of vector-borne patients from neighbouring states, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain wrote to Union Health Minister J P Nadda seeking a meeting with NCR health ministers. Nine deaths from dengue and one death from chikungunya were reported on Tuesday.
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All the five patients who have died of chikungunya were elderly patients, they said, adding, one patient of dengue is also admitted, but no fatality from it has taken place at the hospital.
IgM-ELISA and Reverse Transcription-Polymerase ChainReaction (RT-PCR) are the two main tests used to detectchikungunya in patients.A senior doctor at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital says the viralstrain in patients diagnosed with chikungunya at its hospitalare “showing different behaviour” for the two tests.
In a letter to Mr Nadda, Delhi health minister Satyendar Jain said the Delhi government was making best efforts to coordinate with the Union health ministry to tackle the outbreak of dengue and chikungunya. Doctors have said all the patients had been suffering from some chronic diseases, including kidney ailment and diabetes, which got aggravated due to the chikungunya virus.
According to the Bangalore-based doctor, “The prevalenceof arbovirus infections similar to chikungunya virus in southIndia especially in states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu havemade people tolerant to these infections.”The number of chikungunya cases in the national capitalhave climbed to over 1,700 this season and at least 12 deathshave been reported due to the disease”. According to the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), the number of chikungunya cases in Delhi has spiked to 1,724 till September 11 as fever clinics in the city continue to be swamped with patients. J.D. Madan died on Thursday morning at the SGRH, the fifth person to have lost his life to complications triggered by chikungunya at the hospital in last four days.
“Many patients coming to Delhi hospitals are from neighbouring states in the NCR”.
In a report released on Thursday on vector-borne disease cases at AIIMS, the doctors said, “Nine dengue patients have died from September 1 till date”. A total of 96 patients were admitted to AIIMS, out of which 56 have been discharged.
“Earlier, the United Kingdom embassy had issued a health advisory on chikungunya sharing vital information about its symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, prevention and epidemiology”, said D S Rawat, Secretary General, ASSOCHAM. He succumbed to dengue on August 31 at Apollo Hospital. Dengue deaths in West Bengal this year is up from 14 in 2015 when Delhi had earned the distinction of recording the highest number of deaths due to the disease at 60.
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Seven of the 12 chikungunya victims belonged to Uttar Pradesh, including two from Ghaziabad, and five from Delhi.
