Though authorities have not confirmed any death, private hospitals have reported seven, with four from Gurgaon.
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So far 11 people have died of dengue and over 1,900 have been affected by it. Delhi Government officials have announced that unless patients suffering from dengue are not provided treatment right away, they can revert back the practice license of the private hospitals.
At the government-run Dr Ram Manohar Lohia hospital on Wednesday, two patients – some hooked up to drips – were squeezed into some single beds.
Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain said on Wednesday that no hospital has the right to refuse treatment to any patient and instructed hospitals to arrange for a total of 1000 beds within a week’s time.
She is now admitted in a private hospital on Khandsa Road. However, this year’s outbreak has been described as the worst in five years.
The minister said more dengue testing kits are being procured and private hospitals have been asked not to charge more than Rs 600 for the test which is free in government facilities.
“There is no need to panic. People insist on hospitalization even if symptoms are mild”, Y.K. Mann, Delhi’s director of the Municipal Corporation, said.
The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, to give all relevant information about dengue and its treatment. “We have no other option…the ICUs are full and we can’t transfer them to other hospital as their condition are critical”, said a senior doctor at AIIMS.
The President’s House, the Home Ministry and major hospitals are found to be among the top offenders in an anti-dengue drive by civic officials in the heart of Delhi.
Most complications from dengue happen after the fever is over so extra care needs to be taken then.
Blood Component Separators have been installed at district level hospitals and six Aphesis machines have been installed at Civil Hospitals at Amritsar, Bathinda, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur and Mohali for provision of platelets for very severe cases of dengue hemorrhagic fever. Most cases can be managed in Hospital outpatient departments.
“The outbreak can be attributed to changes in the monsoon pattern”.
In 2010, there were 1,695 cases of dengue reported.
Dengue cases usually jump during and just after the rainy season, which normally lasts from June to September.
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After the suicide of the couple, a boy also died of dengue.
