With dengue cases increasing in alarming proportions in the national Capital, the Delhi Government and the BJP-ruled three municipal corporations are locked into blame game. As many as 613 new dengue cases have been reported in the last one week alone taking the total number of victims of the mosquito-borne disease to 1,872. According to municipal corporations’ data, five patients have succumbed to the disease.
While the statistics make you sit up, what is even worse is that the corporations have passed the buck to the Delhi Government, alleging that they have reduced the Delhi’s budget for health by 30 per cent in comparison to last year.
On the other hand, the Aam Aadmi Party said that responsibility of the Delhi Government is to deal with patients while the civic bodies have the mandate to control the spread of the disease. “last year, Rs 35 crore was allocated to the South Delhi Municipal Corporation only for stopping dengue and malaria, but only Rs 18 crore was spent. A lot could have been done in terms of fogging and other activities,” said AAP leader Dilip Pandey.
Areas under North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NMC) are reeling under the onslaught of dengue with as many as 776 cases of dengue registered till the second week of September so far. While South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has recorded total 499 cases, East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) is on the safer side with 152 cases. According to experts, the “dengue season” picks up pace from September and reaches its peak by October-November.
However, the municipal corporations claimed that an “epidemic-like situation” has not yet arrived though the number of cases is quite high. The Corporation Mayors on Monday, while talking about preparedness to control the disease claimed that without cooperation of the City Government it is not possible handle the situation. Moreover, the unfazed Kejriwal Government has not for once discussed the situation with the municipal corporations so far, they claimed.
“The need of the hour is to work together to tackle the problem as the situation is worsening. The Kejriwal Government has not taken any initiative in this regard. Even the Commissioners were called on by the Health Minister after exposing their non-cooperation. What is worse is that corporations’ budgetary allocation on health has been reduced by Rs 40 crore by Government from what it was last year,” said NMC Mayor Ravinder Gupta.
The three corporations, responsible for treatment of dengue patients in their hospitals, claimed that due to high number of dengue patients in hospitals, there is an acute shortage of beds. According to them, the Hindu Rao Hospital alone had 758 patients admitted during night hours last Sunday.
The fear of vector-borne disease has gripped the capital to the extent that people having minor fever rush to hospitals due to which there is an urgent need of additional beds in five major hospitals including Hindu Rao and Kasturba hospital which have been witnessing huge rush.
“The corporations’ hospitals have limited capacity but after a sudden spurt in cases, we have decided to add 480 beds within two day. Additionally, we have also been running free fever clinics to handle the
things efficiently,” said VK Seth, Director (Health Administration) of NMC.