The increasing cases of dengue in the national Capital has set the patients and their family members into panic mode. Patients, especially those whose platelet count is low, are continuously shifting from one hospital to other, as they claim that most of the hospitals are not ready to take them. Those who moved to private health clinics and hospitals have moved to Government run hospitals due to costly treatment.
The Pioneer visited to some Government hospitals on Tuesday to see the condition of the patients suffering from the vector borne disease. The hospitals are over-crowded with patients; doubling and tripling of beds were also spotted. However, as dengue cases are increasing at an alarming rate, there is shortage of trained medical staff to deal with the “emergency” situation.
Shalu, 17, who earlier went for the dengue treatment at RMl hospital, has now shifted to the Deen Dayal Upadhya Hospital. Her mother, Neelam said, “Due to the lack of treatment at RMl hospital, I shifted my daughter to DDU hospital. At least, my daughter is recovering well here.”
lok Nayak, Ambedkar and lal Bahadur hospitals are so overcrowded that the hospital authorities have created separate dengue wards and fever clinics. Even most of the patients were seen lying in the corridors of these hospitals, who were not accommodated in the dengue wards.
Another dengue patient, Pitambar Jha, 50, had come to India all the way from Nepal on the occasion of Raksha Bhandhan. Currently, he is admitted in RMl hospital. His sister told The Pioneer, “He came to India on Raksha Bhandhan and for site seeing. Earlier, we had gone to Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital, but due to the lack of treatment there, we shifted him to RMl hospital,” said Pitamber’s sister.
Apparently, the situation is the same in all the private hospitals as well. These hospitals are also witnessing the long queues of patients visiting for dengue consultation. Not only in India’s premier medical institute, AIIMS doctors and medical staff and employees are down with dengue, the city’s top private Ganga Ram Hospital’s senior doctor is also suffering from dengue.
Meanwhile, doctors of the city hospitals are claiming that more dengue cases are likely to come up in the coming weeks as September and October first week is the peak time for the spread of the disease. A doctor at RMl hospital said, “If the Governments had been as active as they are now and had taken appropriate action in time, the situation would have been far better than this. Then we won’t have been facing an outbreak like situation.”
The Government should have applied more fogging earlier, he added.