As the national capital struggles with its biggest outbreak of dengue cases in five years, the Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain said the situation is under control and urged citizens to avoid self-medication. Jain met top health officials to take stock of the situation and has ordered officials to buy 1,000 new beds for hospitals, which have been ordered not to turn away any dengue patients.
Doctors at city hospitals say the next four weeks could be crucial. It is likely that the number of cases rise as the temperature dips.
The strains of the disease that have emerged this year as the more dominant subtypes involve rapid drops in platelet levels, leading to a rush at clinics, hospitals and blood banks.
As of September 5, 1,259 cases of dengue had been recorded. This is the highest since 2009, when 1512 cases were recorded. The Delhi Health Department has issued an advisory to all hospitals not to refuse admission to any dengue patient. The hospitals have been asked to make provisions for more beds to be made available for treatment of dengue patients.
A report by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) shows that the Type 2 and Type 4 strains of the disease have emerged as the dominant subtypes this season.
The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), which has been conducting tests around the city to check for breeding grounds and have fined 114 institutions in the last 15 days. Among the prominent institutions that have attracted fines are the Jawaharlal Nehru University, NCERT and the Public Works Department.
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