NEW DELHI: The city is facing a double whammy of outbreaks of seasonal illnesses. The footfall in hospitals’ OPDs is consistently swelling with a significant number of patients suffering from swine flu (Influenza A), while the majority of patients are complaining of dengue fever, doctors said, adding that the mortality and hospitalization of vulnerable groups suffering from seasonal infections are also on a rise.
“Currently, we have two patients who required hospitalization since their health deteriorated after they developed severe complications from Influenza A,” said Dr. Aakash Budhraja, a pulmonologist at Aakash Healthcare. “Both of them suffered pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and had to be admitted to the ICU,” he added.
According to a report accessed by this newspaper from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the city reported 36 cases of swine flu only in the month of August. The tally has reached 67 this year. Meanwhile, doctors at Delhi government-run Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital told this newspaper that up to 150 cases of dengue fever are being reported at the hospital every day.
“We are seeing a huge influx of patients with low platelets count. A majority of them are testing positive for the dengue. The numbers are going up to 150 cases every day. Many of them are also exhibiting symptoms of typhoid,” a doctor from the hospital said.
Dr. Budhraja said that a patient died of dengue in his hospital around 10 days ago. “The patient suffered dengue shock and did not survive,” Budhraja said. Incidentally, even though an acute outbreak of the vector-borne disease is being reported from around the city, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has been reluctant to release the statistics of cases and associated mortalities to map the extent of the dengue spread.
The figures contradict claims by the MCD officials who have been maintaining that the situation regarding dengue is under control. The city mayor and other leaders are also avoiding stating facts and figures to the public. The MCD updated figures about the dengue cases last on August 7 and has withheld the data since then. Dengue is a notifiable disease which makes it mandatory for the hospitals to report the cases and the concerned authority to make the data public by law.
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MCD has not put out data in public since August 7
Incidentally, even though an acute outbreak of the vector-borne disease is being reported from around the city, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has been reluctant to release the statistics of cases and associated mortalities to map the extent of the dengue spread. The figures contradict claims by the MCD officials who have been maintaining that the situation regarding dengue is under control. The city mayor and other leaders are also avoiding stating facts and figures to the public. The MCD updated figures about the dengue cases last on August 7 and has withheld the data since then.
